Casey: Make fertilizer used for IEDs harder to get

WASHINGTON - On a gray afternoon Thursday, Sen. Bob Casey attended yet another Arlington Cemetery internment for a Pennsylvania soldier, killed while searching for homemade bombs in Afghanistan.

The death of Army Specialist Dale J. Kridlo of Hughestown, Luzerne County, came only days before another local soldier, Specialist Anthony Vargos of Reading, was killed by an improvised explosive device, or IED.

IEDs are the chief killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and Casey has targeted the primary explosive ingredient behind them - ammonium nitrate, which has legitimate uses but is more often smuggled over the porous Pakistani border for nefarious purposes.

"The statistics are sobering," Casey said during a Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing that followed Kridlo's internment.

More than 6,000 IEDs have been discovered in Afghanistan so far this year, and the devices have killed 190 U.S. soldiers, wounding 2,459 more. According to the Pentagon, four out of five IEDs are built with ammonium nitrate smuggled into Afghanistan.

The chemical compound, used largely for farming in the United States, is also commonly sought by terrorists. Timothy McVeigh used it to fuel the bomb that killed 168 people in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Casey cited a recent Los Angeles Times report alleging that caravans of a dozen Pakistani trucks, carrying up to 85 tons of ammonium nitrate, cross the Afghan border through the Khyber Pass, twice a week. This is enough ammonium nitrate to build 2,500 bombs, Casey said.

Despite U.S. attempts to confront the IED threat, the United Nations reports that the rate of IED explosions in Afghanistan is climbing, rising 89 percent in the second quarter, compared to last year.

"IEDs continue to represent the most lethal threat to U.S. and Coalition forces in Afghanistan and to the success of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan," said Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary David S. Sedney.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, ammonium nitrate is used primarily for road construction, not agriculture, said senior State Department official Mary Beth Goodman.

The Afghan government has banned the use of ammonium nitrate, except for mining and construction, which requires a permit. But the government has yet to create a permit process. "As with everything we do in Afghanistan, it's a question of having the ability to implement it," Goodman said.

In Pakistan, efforts to combat the problem are nascent, said Goodman, who returned this week from a trip there this week. To begin, Pakistani officials finally agreed to put the issue on the public agenda of the meeting with Goodman and other U.S. officials. Acknowledging the problem is a good first step, she said.

Documenting the flow of ammonium nitrate to Afghanistan is difficult. But Goodman said this much is clear: Two factories in Pakistan produce enough to meet the nation's domestic needs. Yet customs records show that Pakistan imports great quantities of ammonium nitrate from Sweden, Germany, Russia, China and Iran. Presumably, much of that imported product is making its way to Afghanistan, she said.

In March, Pakistani police seized 6,600 pounds of ammonium nitrate in a Lahore fruit market, and investigators linked three men arrested to a string of bombings that killed 50 people.

Casey recently wrote to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, urging him to improve customs enforcement at key border crossings.

"I cannot overemphasize the urgency of this issue," Casey wrote.

Imran Gardezi, a spokesman for the Pakistani embassy in Washington, said that his nation has "taken strident measures" to track and control ammonium nitrate. This includes trying to track shipments and improving border training. But with so much legitimate use of the chemical compound for road construction in the rugged region, the Pakistani diplomat said, it's difficult to police.

"When all is said and done, there is no foolproof system," Gardezi said. "It's a very, very complex scenario, but over a period of time, we should be able to reduce this."

The ammonium nitrate threat won't be solved by simply changing laws or implementing modern business practices, including high-tech tracking devices, U.S. officials said. Corruption at the border, for one, will always pose a challenge, Casey said.

"We know that we cannot completely eradicate ammonium nitrate overnight," Casey said. "But if ... we can make it that much harder for the bomb-maker, then we will have accomplished a lot."