The surge of troops sent to Afghanistan encountered soaring numbers of bombs hidden in paths and roads over the last year — and a corresponding jump in casualties. But as insurgents increased their use of these simple and inexpensive homemade weapons, international forces patrolling on foot became far better at finding them, the latest Pentagon figures show. The makeshift bombs, which the military calls improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, cause most of the injuries and deaths of international forces in Afghanistan/.../ “There is an ever-present, constantly evolving competition between those who make and emplace IEDs and those who must find and neutralize them. As one side develops a technique, the other side accounts for it and modifies its approach to regain the upper hand,” said Dakota Wood, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and a retired Marine lieutenant colonel. For instance, to stump metal detectors, insurgents make bombs with little or no metal.
In the News