Pakistan, US vow to curb homemade (IED) bombs

[Aragorn]

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and the US on Friday agreed to keep on working collectively to curb use of homemade bombs, officials said.The US has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gives assurances it is helping fight the spread of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in the region.The US officials urge Pakistan to curb the manufacturing of IEDs and also its exports to Afghanistan. They said that IEDs are used against the foreign forces in Afghanistan.A US delegation led by Dr Peter Lavoy, US Assistant Secretary for Asia and Pacific Security, met Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik and discussed ways to counter the threat of IEDs. ‘The US official appreciated steps taken by Pakistan in countering IEDs’, an Interior Ministry statement said. Militants in Pakistan also now use IEDs to target the security forces and pro-government tribal elders and political leaders in the country’s tribal regions and volatile northwest.Americans also say that IEDs are Taliban most effective weapons against US and coalition troops in Afghanistan.They say that many are made using ammonium nitrate, a common fertiliser smuggled across the border from Pakistan. Afghan officials in eastern Kunar province claimed this week that they seized a truck, carrying nearly eight tonnes of explosives used for making IEDs. They alleged that the chemicals were loaded in the truck in the Pakistani eastern city of Multan in the Punjab province.US officials insist that want assurances that Pakistan is countering IEDs in their country that are targeting coalition forces.The US official also discussed security cooperation with Pakistani Interior Minister, the official statement said.The Interior Minister asserted that the government is waiting for outcome of Parliamentary debate for new terms of engagement with the US, it said.

Pakistan, US vow to curb homemade bombs | The Nation

 

[fatman17]

Special forces to counter Taliban’s deadliest weapon

Army to deploy troops at 820 posts to stop smuggl*ing of home-made bombs.

By Irfan Ghauri

Published: April 11, 2012

Army to deploy troops at 820 posts to stop smuggling of home-made bombs. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

ISLAMABAD:To counter the use of homemade landmines – the weapon that causes the most troop and civilian casualties on both sides of the border – Pakistan is to deploy specially trained Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices (C-IED) forces at 820 border posts along the Pak-Afghan border.

“Special instructions are being passed to all agencies to enhance vigilance on the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistan has deployed 23 wings of the Frontier Corps (FC) for border control. The manpower deployed on approximately 820 posts established by the Pakistan Army/FC along the international border are being trained to monitor the movement of Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (CAN),” said an official document available with The Express Tribune.

CAN and Ammonium Nitrate (AN) are used to manufacture fertilisers but simultaneously function as key ingredients in making homemade mines called IEDs.

The FC has trained their personnel in basic Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) to undertake search and disposal operations, while specialised police units have been established to undertake EOD tasks which will be used not only on border points but during raids on IED manufacturing sites on its side of the border.

While last year’s Nato attack brought Pak-US relations to a new low, military cooperation and intelligence sharing between the two countries continues at certain levels.

The US had been pressing Pakistan to take measures to ensure control of the cross-border movement of IED material. Islamabad, on the other hand, says that a regional approach will be required to check the smuggling as a number of other countries neighbouring Afghanistan also produce CAN and AN.

‘Afghan cooperation needed’

During recent interactions with US security officials, the Pakistani army told the United States and NATO forces that such efforts would only yield positive results if both sides of the border were manned in coordination with each other, according to the policy document.

“Having identified certain deficiencies in the search aspect of Counter-IEDs, the Pakistan Army is in the process of reorganising and re-equipping certain engineer units to improve this capacity … As part of the army’s efforts to prevent/minimise the possibility of cross-border smuggling of CAN, army/FC troops manning border posts are being educated to prevent cross border movement of CAN. The same kind of arrangement, suitably coordinated, should however be undertaken on the Afghan side of the border as well,” read the paper.

The document further said that the Pakistan Army has developed the capacity to undertake C-IED operations as 730 personnel have been trained in C-IED over the last five years.

IEDs hampering Nato

IEDs have caused over 13,918 (civilian and military) casualties, which is 47% of the total casualties suffered by Pakistan over the past four years in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Khyber-Pakthunkhwa alone.

The use of Taliban homemade landmines and roadside bombs against Nato forces has reached record levels according to a Pentagon task force.

IEDs are the number one cause of casualties for International Security Assistance Forces (Isaf), newly trained Afghan National Security Forces (NSF) troops and civilians.

The US has devoted huge resources to defeating the IED threat over the years but with little success. The US Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) alone has an annual budget of over $3 billion, and since 2006, $20 billion have been spent on C-IED efforts.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2012.