Anyone who thinks that Mexico's rising drug crisis is not the problem of the United States is wrong. The Obama administration made it very clear, with its new plan to help Mexico combat the escalating narco-violence, that it is ready to accept responsibility for its share of the problem and become part of the solution.

For years, Mexico and the U.S. have been playing the blame game in the escalating drug problem: American authorities have been blaming Mexico for supplying and trafficking, and Mexico has been blaming the U.S. for not controlling its insatiable appetite for drugs. But the extreme level of violence surrounding the lucrative drug business has forced a change of attitude.

Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon came into office a little more than two years ago, the battle against the drug cartels has been his top priority. Thousands of troops, police officers and federal law-enforcement agents have been sent out in full force to 18 states around the country. But the battle has turned into an all-out war, tainting dozens of cities and towns in the country with blood.

Since January 2008, at least 7,000 people have died in drug-related killings. It is not unusual to wake up in cities like Juarez, Tijuana or Monterrey and find dozens of dead bodies bound and gagged, shot execution-style or even decapitated. There is no doubt that the narco-violence in Mexico is out of control. Even worse is the corruption within government and law enforcement, where the tentacles of the drug kingpins have reached the highest levels.

In its latest desperate measure, the Mexican government offered rewards of up to $2 million for information that would lead to the arrest of the country's top drug lords. Thirty-seven names were published, and within one day, the first high-level trafficker was turned in and arrested.

Its neighbor to the north, the United States, is feeling the pain of the drug war as well. The violence has spilled over the border, and it is believed that Mexican drug cartels have a presence in more than 200 U.S. cities. But the United States can no longer play the role of victim or innocent bystander. That is why, on the eve of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Mexico, the Obama administration unveiled a plan to help Mexico in its war against drugs. Clinton herself said in an interview with Univision that she does not consider Mexico a threat to the national security of the United States. “Mexico, like any country, faces internal threats from criminals and particularly the drug gangs and traffickers; we have had those problems in our own country, and what I hope is that we can be of assistance to the Mexican government and the Mexican people in their fight against the drug cartels,” Clinton said.

The new federal plan, developed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, calls for doubling the number of border-security task-force teams as well as moving a significant number of other federal agents, equipment and resources to the border.

During his second prime-time press conference, President Barack Obama addressed the issue: “The steps we have taken are designed to make sure that the border communities in the United States are protected and you are not seeing a spillover of violence, and that we are helping the Mexican government deal with a very challenging situation.” But more importantly, Obama recognized that the United States is playing a major role in that violence. “We need to do more to make sure that illegal guns and cash aren't flowing back to these cartels. That's part of what's financing their operations. That's part of what is arming them. That's what makes them so dangerous.” In fact, 90 percent of the weapons used in drug-related violence in Mexico come from the U.S.

Recognizing that Mexico's drug war is a shared responsibility brings bilateral relations between these two neighboring countries to a whole new level. Let's just hope it is handled in a way that will put an end to the senseless, brutal killings that have Mexico in a state of siege.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER'S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www .mariaesalinas.com)

© 2009 by Maria Elena Salinas

Distributed by King Features Syndicate