U.S. Military Expecting Increase in Taliban Bombings

With the news that thousands of new U.S. reinforcement troops will be moving into Afghanistan in the coming months, U.S. military commanders are expecting increased bombings and harassment by Taliban members as well. The leading cause of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), cause 75% of U.S. casualties and also are taking a heavy toll on the native civilian population. U.S. commanders in the field have noted that the Taliban have already stepped up efforts to terrorize troops stationed in Afghanistan.

Various efforts by the U.S. to deal with IEDs with technology have meet with success in Iraq, where drone spay planes, robotic vehicles, radio jammers and ground-penetrating radar have greatly reduced the number of casualties by IEDs. In Afghanistan, however, bombs tend to be more primitive and also more difficult to detect. Ironically, the cheaper, more primitive bombs are both less expensive and, as it turns out, more effective. Said Lt. General Thomas Metz, director of the Pentagon’s counter-IED task force, "We try to get ahead of them on the electromagnetic spectrum – and he goes back to a string and clothespin, a much more difficult problem to solve."

Metz admitted that he and his group were frustrated by having to build "million-dollar solutions to $100 problems. That just isn’t smart business. But it is saving lives." Moving forward, the Pentagon is expecting a 30-40% increase in IED attacks. Said Metz, "We are making a difference, but there’s still too many people being killed and maimed by IEDs."