Direct proof of use
Radio-controlled improvised explosive devices were documented in the 2001 War in Afghanistan by U.S. Army material from Khowst and Kandahar. Army FY2008 budget material for MSR Alaska in Khowst Province identified remote-controlled IEDs as the primary IED type in that route area, where coalition traffic moved between FOB Salerno and border security posts near Pakistan.
A separate U.S. Army report from a July 2009 convoy ambush between Oruzgan and Kandahar provinces described a seized cell phone containing footage of insurgents planting roadside bombs, possible IEDs along the route, a green cell phone found in a hole, and the use of cell phones to detonate remote-controlled IEDs.
Sources: Army FY2008 GWOT Amendment, U.S. Army Kandahar Convoy Ambush
Timeline
By September 2007, the Army budget justification for a counter-IED road project in Khowst Province described remote-controlled IEDs as the primary IED type on MSR Alaska. The route was a major coalition movement corridor from FOB Salerno toward BSP 9 and BSP 5 on the Pakistan border.
In July 2009, Army reporting from southern Afghanistan connected Taliban or insurgent roadside-bomb activity to cell-phone-triggered remote-controlled IEDs during a convoy ambush that damaged vehicles and wounded soldiers.
Sources: Army FY2008 GWOT Amendment, U.S. Army Kandahar Convoy Ambush
Narrative
In Afghanistan, the documented RCIED role was insurgent interdiction and route attack. The Khowst source frames the devices as a force-protection problem on a heavily used main supply route, while the Kandahar account shows the same remote-detonated roadside-bomb threat in a convoy ambush setting.
The evidence supports Taliban and allied militant use, not coalition or Afghan government employment of the device. The Army convoy report describes ANA forces fighting Taliban fighters near the ambush area and refers to insurgents planting roadside bombs, while the parent conflict metadata identifies Taliban and allied militants as the relevant opposing side.
Counter-RCIED electronic warfare gives additional context for the type without changing the use claim. A later U.S. Army training article describes the Duke system as a vehicle-mounted jammer for frequencies used to detonate remote-controlled IEDs and calls RCIEDs a common attack form in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sources: Army FY2008 GWOT Amendment, U.S. Army Kandahar Convoy Ambush, National Guard Duke System Training
