Wardak province, Afghanistan, Oct. 17, 2009: Explosive ordnance technicians scour the scene after a triggerman at the other end of a command wire detonated a bomb under a U.S. military vehicle in the hostile Tangi Valley of eastern Afghanistan’s Wardak province. The mine-sweeping vehicle was damaged but its armor was not penetrated by the blast, and the two soldiers inside were knocked out but not badly hurt.

Soldiers in Wardak and elsewhere often speak not of whether they’ve been hit by IEDs but how often. Civilians and the Afghan National Security Forces are even more at risk without protective armor and vehicles.

For forces on the ground, the IED evokes an almost mythical terror. But for Task Force Paladin, a specialized bomb-hunting unit that is waging war against the IED, the top killer in Afghanistan is simply another weapon they have to defeat.

Read part one of Stars and Stripes’ 2009 two-part series on Task Force Paladin here. Part two can be found here.

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