Making homemade bombs in Afghanistan
Nearly 80 percent of all makeshift-bomb attacks last year against U.S. troops in Afghanistan used explosives created in a simple, low-tech process with fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate. The crude bombs contain no metal and cost about $40 each to make. Sources: Defense Department; staff reports. The Washington Post.
Nearly 80 percent of all makeshift-bomb attacks last year against U.S. troops in Afghanistan used explosives created in a simple, low-tech process with fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate. The crude bombs contain no metal and cost about $40 each to make. Sources: Defense Department; staff reports. The Washington Post.
To Stop Afghan Bombs, A Focus On Pakistani Fertilizer -- Washington Post
To grasp the severity of Lt. Gen. Michael D. Barbero’s $40-fertilizer-bomb problem, it helps to consider some much bigger numbers.
Barbero heads a U.S. military command, with an annual budget of about $2.8 billion, that was created to stem U.S. casualties from insurgent bombs. In just the past few months, he has shelled out $24 million for a new hand-held ground-penetrating radar, $33 million for mini-surveillance robots and $19 million for bomb-resistant underwear.
The insurgent’s weapon of choice in Afghanistan is at the other end of the price spectrum: a plastic jug filled with ammonium nitrate fertilizer. So far this year, these cheap, hard-to-detect bombs have wounded about 3,200 U.S. soldiers and Marines, up 22 percent from 2010, according to the Pentagon.
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My Comment: Fertilizer bombs are a symptom of what is wrong in Afghanistan .... regulating it (or even banning it) will not solve its problems and the underlying reasons for why there is now continuous war and conflict in this impoverished country.
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