IEDs in Afghanistan double in past year

The number of crude roadside bombs in Afghanistan has doubled in the past year, prompting U.S. officials to rush billions of dollars of new protective gear to troops and double the number of road-clearing teams.

The campaign against the deadly devices, described Thursday by senior officials, follows Pentagon warnings of an increase in casualties in the months to come. President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of more than 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, and already, more U.S. deaths have accompanied the rise in forces.

Twice as many troops died in the first three months of 2010 compared to the same period last year. The majority of all American deaths and injuries in Afghanistan are believed to have been a result of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

Military officials say they are hoping that the war in Afghanistan will follow the pattern seen in Iraq: As troop levels rise, security improves and the population turns against insurgent forces. Eventually, the number of IED incidents drops off.

"We've proven it once (in Iraq) and we're having to prove it in Afghanistan. But it's not quick, and it's not without casualties," said Lt. Gen. Michael Oates, director of the military's Joint IED Defeat Organization, or JIEDDO.

Oates' organization has spent $1.6 billion since September in a bid to rush new technologies into war zones, including better surveillance devices. JIEDDO plans to spend another $1.7 billion through the end of September, when Obama's troop buildup will be in place.

The military also has more than doubled the number of road-clearing teams in Iraq, from about two-dozen to 56.

While the surge in IED attacks in Afghanistan alarms officials, the volume is still roughly a third of those reported at the height of the Iraq war. The bombs are also remarkably less sophisticated, officials say, typically relying on fertilizer and diesel fuel.

But officials say that the Afghan bombs present new challenges. Unlike in Iraq, where electronics could be used to scan for remote-controlled bombs and jam their frequencies, Afghan bombs lack the circuitry that make them easier to detect and thwart.

The number of IEDs in Afghanistan climbed from 429 in March 2009 to 989 in March 2010.

In February, Defense Secretary Robert Gates announced that the U.S. would sell NATO allies mine-resistant vehicles and other anti-bomb equipment because of the increased threats. Previously, the best anti-bomb technology was considered classified and its sale heavily restricted.