* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
As seen on www.dawn.com
The main ingredient in most of the homemade bombs that have killed hundreds of American troops in Afghanistan is fertiliser produced by a single company in Pakistan, which the United States has been pushing unsuccessfully for greater regulation, the Dawn newspaper reported on Thursday.
According to the report, U.S. officials say enough calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser for at least 140,000 bombs was legally produced last year by Pakarab Fertilisers Ltd., and then smuggled by militants and their suppliers across the porous border into southern and eastern Afghanistan.
"The U.S. military says around 80 percent of Afghan bombs are made with the fertiliser, which becomes a powerful explosive when mixed with fuel oil. The rest are made from military-grade munitions like mines or shells," said the report, adding that Washington began talks a year and a half ago with Islamabad and Pakarab, which is one of Pakistan's largest companies.
However, here is still no regulation of the distribution and sale of calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser, the report added.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
