Calcium ammonium nitrate is responsible for more than 70 percent of roadside bombs against coalition forces in Afghanistan despite a ban by Kabul on the fertilizer, Lieutenant General Michael Barbero told a Senate hearing. Barbero, who heads a Defence Department unit that combats the bombs, said a Pakistani company, has been "less than co-operative" in discussions with the United States.
Senator Bob Casey, who put up pictures of maimed US soldiers at the hearing, said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik presented plans to prevent the bombs - known as improvised explosive devices, or IEDs - during an October visit to the United States. "While I'm pleased that Pakistan has developed a very detailed and comprehensive set of plans to counter IEDs, let me be clear - it's time to finally and fully implement these plans," Casey said.
"IED incidents have risen in Afghanistan. The flow of chemicals coming from across the border has not diminished," said Casey, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party from Pennsylvania. Casey said that Pakistan - which has been torn for years by violence - had an interest in halting the fertiliser's misuse. Citing the US embassy, Casey said IEDs had killed 2,395 people inside Pakistan in the past year.