US drops its largest bomb on Daesh caves in Nangarhar

WASHINGOTN: US forces dropped a huge GBU-43 bomb on a series of caves fighters loyal to Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K group used in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday, the military said.

The bomb, the largest non-nuclear bomb with the US forces, was used in Achin district as part of ongoing efforts to defeat the ISIS-K in Afghanistan, the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) said.

The GBU-43 bomb, known as mother of all bobms, was dropped from a US aircraft to minimize the risk to Afghan and US forces conducting clearing operations in the area, the military said.

“As ISIS-K’s losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense,” said General John W. Nicholson, Commander, US Forces – Afghanistan.

“This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K,” Nicholson said.

CENTCOM said US forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with the strike and that American forces would continue offensive operations until ISIS-K was destroyed in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, President Doland Trump called the bombing in Achin distirct as a very sucessful mission, but declined to take responsibility for the use of the giant bomb, APA reports quoting Sputnik.

Trump skirted a reporter’s question concerning whether Trump himself authorized the strike. He pivoted by saying, “everybody knows what happened,” which is factually not true — it’s why he was being asked the question.

He followed up by stating that “what I do is authorize my military,” which is true, of course, but only because the legal framework of the US grants the presidency singular sovereignty over the use of armed forces.

The GRU-43/B is a conventional warhead weighing 22,600 pounds (10,300 kg) designed during the Iraq War. “We have given them total authorization…that’s why they’ve been so successful lately,” Trump added.

“If you look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks versus what’s happened over the last eight years,” he continued, “you’ll see there’s a tremendous difference.”

He concluded by saying “we have incredible leaders in the military, and we have an incredible military, and we are very proud of them” and that MOABs deployment in Afghanistan was a “successful mission.”

Recently, a NATO spokesman in Kabul told reporters that the alliance’s major goal in 2017 would be the defeat of Daesh group in Afghanistan. -Pajhwok

THE PASHTUN TIMES