Has The U.S. Lost The IED War In Afghanistan?

How The U.S. Quietly Lost The IED War In Afghanistan -- Gareth Porter, IPS

WASHINGTON, Oct 9 2012 (IPS) - Although the surge of “insider attacks” on U.S.-NATO forces has dominated coverage of the war in Afghanistan in 2012, an even more important story has been quietly unfolding: the U.S. loss of the pivotal war of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the Taliban.

Some news outlets have published stories this year suggesting that the U.S. military was making “progress” against the Taliban IED war, but those stories failed to provide the broader context for seasonal trends or had a narrow focus on U.S. fatalities. The bigger reality is that the U.S. troop surge could not reverse the very steep increase in IED attacks and attendant casualties that the Taliban began in 2009 and which continued through 2011.

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My Comment: The fact that the Taliban are still using IEDs tells me that from their perspective the IED is an incredibly effective weapon .... and will continue to be in the foreseeable future.