The US plans to share intelligence and technology to help international allies in Afghanistan reduce military casualties due to improvized explosive devices (IEDs), dpa quoted the Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates, as saying today. IED's are the preferred weapon of the Taliban-led insurgency and are responsible for an overwhelming majority of victims among the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The latest casualty, an American soldier, was announced by ISAF on Friday. "I told allies that the US will be able to offer more intelligence, training and equipment," Gates said at the end of a two-day meeting with NATO and ISAF counterparts in Istanbul. He mentioned in particular Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAPs) vehicles, as well as explosive-detection equipment. "We will move to provide as many MRAPs as possible to allies operating in high risk areas," he stated. Before the Istanbul meeting started on Thursday, US officials suggested that the US' offer on anti-IED technology was an "incentive" for NATO allies to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, especially trainers for local army and police. But the Pentagon chief said the offer came now mainly because the US has some spare vehicles after partially withdrawing from Iraq. "Only with drawdown in Iraq we are able to provide surplus MRAPs," he explained. Gates added that MRAPs are due to be either lent or sold to partner nations. "I welcome secretary Gates' offer of a package of counter-IED measures that will halp protect all ISAF soldiers against this menace," NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen commented. Spanish defence minister Carme Chacon said her country would host a research centre on counter-IED technologies in Manzanares, near Madrid. "We hope it will be functioning before the end of the year," she told journalists after meeting Gates.
