US mounts pressure on Pakistan IEDs that kill troops in Afghanistan

The United Staes has again mounted pressure on Pakistan to stop the smuggling of chemicals to Afghanistan being used in the making of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), that the U.S. says kills and injure majority of their troops.

Exactly one year ago U.S. Congress froze $700million in aid to Pakistan over the country’s failure to combate the spread of homemade explosives in the region.

The US says that the Taliban militants target the foreign and Afghan troops by the roadside bombs, that is made locally by the insurgents.

As there is no let up in the IEDs attacks in Afghanistan, the US has again asked Pakistan to act to stop the export of the chemicals used for making home-made bombs.

US officials claim that fertiliser used in many of the IEDs targeting coalition troops in Afghanistan originates from two factories in Pakistan. They say that Washingtin wants assurances that Pakistan is curbing the IEDs in their country.

According to U.S. officials, enough calcium ammonium nitrate fertilizer for at least 140,000 bombs was legally produced last year by Pakarab Fertilizers Ltd., then smuggled by militants and their suppliers across the porous border into southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The U.S. military says about 80 percent of Afghan bombs are made with the fertilizer, which becomes a powerful explosive when mixed with fuel oil.

Reports say that the US Department of Defense’s Director for Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) General Michael Barbero has said that he is encouraged by the positive tone and assurances of Pakistan on stopping the flow of IEDs, Pakistan can and must do more.

He told the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs on terrorist networks in Pakistan and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the JIEDDO Director said that producers of calcium ammonium nitrate, an agricultural fertilizer, in Pakistan need to make more efforts and have been less than cooperative.

The JIEDDO Director said that since 2009, the US has seen a significant increase in amounts of IED materials in seized in Afghanistan, which has increased from 30 tons in 2009 to 444 tons at the moment in 2012. He added that the US and Pakistan must move from discussing cooperation to actual cooperation.

General Barbero said that legislation pertaining to IEDs introduced by the Government of Pakistan had not been passed by the Parliament and have not become law yet. “In July, the Government of Pakistan had committed to a military-to-military counter-IED cooperation framework. To date, despite our input, this document remains in its original draft form with no progress.” He said that the two countries needed to work together on countering these issues. He said that a strong partnership between both countries was required to tackle IED networks on both sides of the border.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Dec 14 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.