By JEFF SCHOGOL
The US military has more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles in Afghanistan that it can bring home — and Afghanistan, India and Pakistan are locked in a three-way competition for them, a former senior defense official said.
“Those people in US government who want to support the Pakistani counterinsurgency say we should give [MRAPs] to them; the people who are concerned about the future of Afghanistan, the people who are principally concerned about India say we shouldn’t give [MRAPs] to them,” said David Sedney. “What we’re actually going to do is not clear.”
MRAPs initially were fielded in Iraq to protect troops from roadside bombs after insurgents discovered that the undersides of up-armored Humvees were vulnerable to buried explosives.
Then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates made building the MRAPs and getting the vehicles downrange a top priority, even though he understood the vehicles were designed for use in Iraq and Afghanistan, not necessarily in future conflicts, said Sedney, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013.
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