Afghan IEDs Hammered Soviets

A US marine runs to safety moments after an IED blast in Garmsir district of Helmand province. Photograph: Manpreet Romana/AFP/Getty

From DoD Buzz:

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced cre­ation of yet another counter-​​IED Pentagon task force, he was clearly frus­trated with the inabil­ity of the mil­i­tary, the intel­li­gence agen­cies and indus­try to come up with answers to the sim­ple yet dev­as­tat­ingly effec­tive road­side bomb.

The num­ber of IED “inci­dents” in Afghanistan, that is IEDs either found before det­o­nat­ing or actual IED attacks, have risen from around 100 a month dur­ing 2006 to over 800 a month this past sum­mer; in August IED inci­dents topped 1,000. In 2006, 41 U.S. and NATO troops were killed by IEDs. So far this year, 260 coali­tion troops have been killed by IEDs, accord­ing to the web site ica​s​u​al​ties​.com that tracks troop casu­al­ties. IED casu­al­ties in Afghanistan don’t approach those of Iraq dur­ing the height of the fight­ing there when some days saw 100 IED inci­dents, but the trend lines are headed in the wrong direc­tion. As more troops arrive, casu­al­ties are sure to increase.

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My Comment: The masters of the IED are still the Iraqis. They operated within the urban environment, and are/were very effective in targeting and striking at U.S./allied targets. The Taliban will have an impact with their IEDs, but better technology, experience, and fighting in a non-urban environment favors the allied forces .... not the Taliban. Unfortunately, casualties will continue and they will increase next year when the surge is completed and military operations are ongoing.