Pakistan must do more to stop flow of IEDs: Barbero

US and Pakistan must move from discussing cooperation to actual cooperation, says Barbero.

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

In a hearing of 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. He said that while they had made minor packaging and tracking changes, they had no implemented any effective product security. He said he believed these producers must also do more.

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.

The JIEDDO Director said that the national counter-IED strategy has not been fully implemented. 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.

The second witness at the hearing, the State Department's Senior Economic Adviser from the Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Jonathan Carpenter, said that they believed it was important that Pakistan should implement its counter IED strategy. He said that despite increased cooperation and emphasis between Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the IED problem "is not likely to diminish in 2013" and will require further work.

In his opening remarks, subcommittee chairman Senator Casey said that he has been working on highlighting the issue of IEDs. He added that he received a letter on Wednesday from US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson on the updates on stopping the flow of IED materials from Pakistan into Afghanistan. Senator Casey, quoting figures provided by the US Embassy and Pakistan Embassy, highlighted the high casualty toll in Pakistan in terrorist attacks and in IED attacks.

"Each one of these deaths is a tragedy," said Senator Casey, saying that the US acknowledges and honours the sacrifices Pakistanis have made in the struggle against violent extremis in Pakistan. He said that while he is pleased Pakistan is developing a counter-IEDs plan, it is time to fully implement them. "The current pace of activity by the Pakistani government is not acceptable," said the Senator.