WASHINGTON — Taliban-led insurgents in Afghanistan have devised ways to cripple and even destroy the expensive armored vehicles that offer U.S. forces the best protection against roadside bombs by using increasingly large explosive charges and rocket-propelled grenades, according to U.S. soldiers and defense officials.
At least eight American troops have been killed this year in attacks on so-called Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, and 40 more have been wounded, said a senior U.S. military official who, like others interviewed on the issue, declined to be further identified because of the issue’s sensitivity.
The insurgents’ success in attacking the hulking machines, which can cost as much as $1 million each, underscores their ability to counter the advanced hardware that the U.S. military and its allies are deploying in their struggle to gain the upper hand in the war, which entered its ninth year last month.
The attacks also raise questions about how vulnerable a new, lighter MRAP, the M-ATV, which is being shipped to Afghanistan, is to the massive explosive charges that Taliban-led insurgents have been using against its bigger cousin.
The insurgents also are hitting MRAPs with rocket-propelled grenades that can penetrate their steel armor, according to U.S troops in Afghanistan.
Defense officials acknowledged the growing problem of successful attacks on MRAPs, and said the U.S. military is constantly developing improvements for the vehicle that include better sensors and tactics.
Meanwhile, the top United Nations official in Afghanistan on Thursday issued an unusually pointed warning to President Hamid Karzai to enact major political reforms or risk losing the support of the international community.
“There is a belief among some that the international commitment to Afghanistan will continue whatever happens because of the strategic importance of Afghanistan,” U.N. Special Representative Kai Eide said at a news conference. “I would like to emphasize that this is not correct.
“It is public opinion in donor countries and in troop-contributing countries that decides the strength of that commitment, and the debate we have seen over the last few weeks and months underlines that we are at a critical juncture.”
Underscoring the fragility of that commitment, U.N. officials said the world body was temporarily pulling hundreds of staff members out of Afghanistan following an attack last week on a Kabul guest house that killed five U.N. employees and three Afghans.
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
