United States Deploys Largest Non-Nuclear Bomb Against ISIS in Afghanistan

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Thursday that the American military used its largest non-nuclear bomb to target one of ISIS’s positions in Afghanistan, an action that President Trump called “a successful mission.”

According to the Associated Press, quoting Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesman, this is the first time this powerful bomb, designated GBU-43 (GBU-43), which contains 11 tons of explosives, has been used in a military operation.

The bomb is referred to as the “mother of all bombs.”

According to Stump, the bomb was dropped on a network of caves in Achin district in Nangarhar province, near the shared border with Pakistan, which is believed to be where ISIS fighters were operating.

Hours after the news was released, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, called today’s operation “another successful mission” and in response to a question about whether he had issued the order to attack, said he had given the military full authority and they are doing what they need to do.

Sean Spicer, the White House spokesman, stated earlier in his daily press briefing that ISIS was freely using this network of tunnels and caves in the region for its activities, and said “to defeat that group, we must take all operational spaces away from them.”

The U.S. Army Central Command headquarters in Kabul also said in an earlier statement that the bomb was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time Thursday on the intended target by an MC-130 (MC-130) transport aircraft.

According to General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and American forces operating in the area, while maximizing ISIS casualties and destruction of the group’s facilities.

The U.S. Department of Defense developed this bomb in the early 2000s and went through a formal legal process to justify its use in military operations.

Source: Voice of America