Washington, DC – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet is in Pakistan on a congressional delegation trip to meet with top Pakistani and U.S. officials to address U.S. security concerns.
“The flow of materials used in roadside bombs from Pakistan to Afghanistan threatens the safety of our troops every day,” said Bennet. “I hope these meetings with officials in Pakistan will help address these and other security concerns. We need to work with the Pakistani government to end this ongoing threat.”
Improvised explosive devises (IEDs) are the No. 1 killer of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and are also used to target civilians and security forces in Pakistan. In 2010, 268 U.S. service members were killed by IEDs in Afghanistan, and 125 more have been killed by IEDs since the beginning of 2011.
In May, Bennet and a bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging the State Department to push Pakistan to stop the flow of ammonium nitrate, the main explosive ingredient used in IEDs, across the Pakistani border.
Bennet is joined on this trip by U.S. Senators Bob Casey (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).