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This is the Army Today.
Outsmarting IEDs.
Task Force Paladin in Afghanistan is using strategic planning to decrease the threat IEDs pose to U.S. and Nato forces.
Gail McCabe reports.
They are the enemy's number 1 weapon system here--
--and he has used them in a tactical, operational, and even strategic fashion.
Colonel Jeffrey Jarkowski, Task Force Paladin Commander, serves as a primary subject matter expert on IEDs in Afghanistan.
In some ways, you can call them a poor man's artillery.
So they are a significant threat and one we obviously take very seriously.
His unit tracks the increase in IED attacks--
--up significantly in the last year.
Task Force Paladin also follows and reports on equipment and programs funded by the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization--
--led by Lieutenant General Tom Metz.
You've got to understand what the commanders are feeling, what they are thinking--
--and how, in my case--the job I've got now--how do I enable them?
How do I help them win this fight against the IED?
A fight current indicators say is becoming strategic as the enemy moves to use IEDs to discourage American commitment.
And so we want to go after the networks and cells that are actually building and placing and facilitating the IEDs and the IED attacks.
Task Force Paladin and JIEDDO provide insights to U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan--
--looking to make all coalition forces smarter on IEDs and the progress being made to defeat them.
Gail McCabe, Afghanistan.
[♪techno music playing♪] That's the Army Today from Soldiers Radio and Television in Washington.
For the latest military news and information, log on to army.mil.
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