WASHINGTON: The US Department of Defense’s section on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has agreed to develop a framework of cooperation with Pakistan to counter the crude, yet deadly bombs.
The US Department of Defense's Joint Improvised Explosives Devices Defeat Organisation (JIEDDO)'s Director Lt Gen Michael Barbero said on Wednesday that after Afghanistan, Pakistan has seen the most IED events, and has greatly suffered. The JIEDDO Director said that the past two years has seen a substantial increase in IED events, with 16,000 taking place in 2011, and June 2012 seeing the most events than previous years, though casualties from the attacks have witnessed a decline.
Gen. Barbero said that the US is prepared to provide training and equipment to Pakistan to help counter IEDs, adding that some equipment has already been transferred.
The JIEDDO Director, who met Interior Minister Rehman Malik in Washington, DC last month, said that Pakistan has taken a step and developed a national strategy to counter IEDs, adding that it needs resources and has to be implemented. "This [IEDs] is a mutual threat," said Gen. Barbero. "We must cooperate to go after the money and networks in Pakistan that threaten both Pakistani military and NATO."
He emphasised that the US and Pakistan needed to move from discussing cooperation to co-operating on the issue.
The JIEDDO Director said they were focusing on acting against the IEDs, including going after the networks that supply them. "84 per cent of IEDs in Afghanistan are homemade explosives," he said, adding that more than 59 per cent are ammonium nitrate-based.
Gen. Barbero also said that the US is talking to the fertiliser industry on the subject of IEDs.
In response to a question, he said that even though Pakistan has changed the bags and added numbers on the bags for fertilisers, it has not yet led to a change on the ground.
Gen. Barbero says that the US has also seen the use of potassium chlorate, a chemical compound used in manufacturing matches, being used by the Haqqani Network in Regional Command East in Afghanistan for IEDs. This chemical, he said, comes from within Pakistan.
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"US, Pakistan to develop counter-IED framework" ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++The challenge now is how to use these freebies to accelerate the IED production.
"He emphasised that the US and Pakistan needed to move from discussing cooperation to co-operating on the issue." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Such plain speaking!