General: IED attacks in Afghanistan likely to rise if more troops are deployed

General: IED attacks in Afghanistan likely to rise if more troops are deployed
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Online Edition, Wednesday, October 28, 2009

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — IED attacks in Afghanistan have gone up along with the rising troop levels and likely will continue to increase if more U.S. forces are sent there, the head of the Joint IED Defeat Organization said on Tuesday.

There were 860 IED incidents in September, down slightly from more than 1,000 in July, but significantly higher than the 352 incidents in September 2008, according to information provided by JIEDDO.

While the vast majority of IEDs were either ineffective or cleared ahead of time, there were still 106 effective attacks in September compared with 38 effective attacks a year ago.

The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has nearly doubled this year to 68,000, and the White House is considering a request from the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan for more than 40,000 additional troops.

JIEDDO Director Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz said he thinks IED attacks would continue to increase if the U.S. sent more troops to Afghanistan.


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