US 'doubling' efforts to counter Afghan bombs

The United States is set to deliver three billion dollars worth of equipment aimed at countering Taliban-made crude bombs used in the Afghan war, a US official said Thursday. Improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, have become the main weapon used against international and Afghan forces fighting to end an insurgency increasingly seen as bogged down in favour of the Taliban.
The equipment was "at least doubling" current counter-IED capacity as forces did not have all they needed to take on an escalating threat, said Ashton Carter, US under-secretary of defence for acquisition, technology and logistics. The new equipment, including tethered surveillance blimps, heavily armoured vehicles and detection machinery such as robots and mine detectors, would arrive in Afghanistan in coming months, he told reporters. Carter said the equipment would be accompanied by about 1,000 counter-IED experts, including laboratory technicians, intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials.
"This is an enormous plug of extra effort," he said, adding that the equipment would be shared with coalition and Afghan forces. IEDs are the biggest threat facing troops engaged in the war in Afghanistan, now well into its ninth year. They are easy and cheap to produce, often using ammonium nitrate fertiliser that is produced in Pakistan and trucked across the border into Afghanistan, Carter said. The bombs are difficult to detect, often buried by roadsides and remotely detonated to devastating effect. Many of the more than 330 foreign soldiers killed so far this year have died of wounds sustained in IED attacks. Those who do not die often suffer life-changing injuries.
A June UN report marked an "alarming" 94 percent increase in IED incidents in the first four months of this year compared to 2009, as the military says intensifying efforts against the Taliban are being matched by more attacks. "Most ammonium nitrate comes from Pakistan and some IEDs are built across the border, some here in Afghanistan," Carter said.
Afghan authorities had banned the use of ammonium nitrate fertiliser and were tightening the border to restrict its flow into Afghanistan, he said. "The United States and Afghanistan have asked that Pakistan monitor its production and export of ammonium nitrate and other explosives precursors," Carter said. "As Pakistan itself begins to suffer from the same home-made IEDs... their willingness to act is growing. This is a very, very welcome sign given how much of this stuff comes over the border from Pakistan," he said.