How US dropped 'The mother of all bombs' on Islamic State tunnel to end terrorrism by force unconditionally

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in Afghanistan on Thursday struck an Islamic State tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan with "the mother of all bombs," the largest non-nuclear weapon ever used in combat by the U.S. military, Pentagon officials said.

The bomb, known officially as a GBU-43B,
or massive ordnance air blast weapon, unleashes 11 tons of explosives. When it was developed in the early 2000s, the Pentagon did a formal review of legal justification for its combat use.

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 The Pentagon said it had no early estimate of deaths or damage caused by its attack, which President Donald Trump called a "very, very successful mission."

The U.S. military headquarters in Kabul said in a statement that the bomb was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time Thursday on a tunnel complex in Achin district of Nangarhar province, where the Afghan affiliate of the Islamic State group has been operating. The target was close to the Pakistani border.

The U.S. estimates 600 to 800 IS fighters are present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The U.S. has concentrated heavily on combatting them while also supporting Afghan forces battling the Taliban. Just last week a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, Staff Sgt. Mark R. De Alencar, 37, of Edgewood, Maryland, was killed in action in Nangarhar.

The MOAB is a custom-made Air Force weapon that has been in the arsenal for more than a decade but never used on the battlefield, although it was available throughout the Iraq war. It is designed to hit softer targets such as surface facilities, tunnel entrances and troop concentrations. It is pushed out the rear of the launching aircraft, guided to its target by GPS and slowed by a parachute.

A separate non-nuclear weapon known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, which is larger in its physical dimensions but carries a smaller load of conventional explosives, is designed to take out deeply buried targets like reinforced bunkers. The MOP has never been used in combat.

In its 2003 review of the legality of using the MOAB, the Pentagon concluded that it could not be called an indiscriminate killer under the Law of Armed Conflict.

"Although the MOAB weapon leaves a large footprint, it is discriminate and requires a deliberate launching toward the target," the review said. It added: "It is expected that the weapon will have a substantial psychological effect on those who witness its use."

Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesman, said the bomb was dropped from a U.S. MC-130 special operations transport. He said the bomb had been brought to Afghanistan "some time ago" for potential use.

Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said in a written statement that the strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces conducting clearing operations in the Achin area "while maximizing the destruction" of IS fighters and facilities. He said IS has been using improvised explosive devices, bunkers and tunnels to strengthen its defenses.

"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K," he added, using the U.S. military's acronym for the IS affiliate.

Ismail Shinwari, the governor of Achin district, said the U.S. attack was carried out in a remote mountainous area with no civilian homes nearby and that there had been no reports of injured civilians. He said there has been heavy fighting in the area in recent weeks between Afghan forces and IS militants.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said IS fighters had used the tunnels and caves in Achin to maneuver freely.

"The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and in order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space, which we did," Spicer said.

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How US Projected that largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan

Washington (CNN)The US military dropped America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS targets in Afghanistan Thursday, the first time this type of weapon has been used in battle, according to US officials.

A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs," was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission. A MOAB is a 30-foot-long, 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition.

President Donald Trump called it "another successful job" later Thursday.

The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, stationed in Afghanistan and operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump told CNN.

Officials said the target was an ISIS cave and tunnel complex and personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province, a remote area in the country's east which borders Pakistan.]

"The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and in order to defeat the group we must deny them operational space, which we did," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said later Thursday. The strike "targeted a system of tunnels and cave that ISIS fighters use to move around freely."

Afghanistan's ambassador to the US, Hamdullah Mohib, told CNN's Brooke Baldwin that the bomb was dropped after fighting had intensified over the last week between US Special Forces and Afghan troops against ISIS.

The US and Afghan forces were unable to advance because ISIS had mined the area with explosives, so the bomb was dropped to clear the tunnels, Mohib said.

Trump declined to say whether he personally signed off on the strike, but did comment, "Everybody knows exactly what happens. So, what I do is I authorize our military."

He continued, "We have given them total authorization and that's what they're doing."

Asked about Trump's "total authorization" comments, a senior administration official declined to specify whether the President indeed ordered the strike in Afghanistan.

But the official said that in general, "We don't approve every strike," adding that, "This administration has moved further away" from dictating military strategy from the White House.

 It's a change both Trump and Defense Secretary James Mattis wanted, the official said.

The President has granted military commanders broader latitude to act independently on several battlefields where US forces are involved, which Trump touted as making a "tremendous difference" in the fight against ISIS.

During the campaign, Trump vowed to eradicate ISIS, saying he would "bomb the s**t" out of the terror group, also known as ISIL.

Republican hawks were quick to voice their support for the strike Thursday.

"I hope America's adversaries are watching & now understand there's a new sheriff in town," tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican. "Pleased Air Force dropped MOAB against ISIL in Afghanistan. Must be more aggressive against ISIL everywhere - including Afghanistan."

 

 

But California Democrat Rep. Jackie Speier voiced concerns about potentially increasing US military involvement in Afghanistan.

"We are escalating in an area I think we should be deescalating in," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Coupled with what happened in Yemen, what happened in Syria, these are efforts that are made to suggest that we will be engaging in wars in three different countries simultaneously."

Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the use of the bomb, according to the sources. The authority to deploy the weapon was granted to Nicholson by the commander of US Central Command, Gen. Joseph Votel, Stump said. 

 

 

Why did the US use the MOAB? 00:54

This is the first time a MOAB has been used in the battlefield, according to the US officials. This munition was developed during the Iraq war and is an air blast-type warhead that explodes before hitting the ground in order to project a a massive blast to all sides.

During the final stages of testing in 2003, military officials told CNN that the MOAB was mainly conceived as a weapon employed for "psychological operations." Military officials said they hoped the MOAB would create such a huge blast that it would rattle Iraqi troops and pressure them into surrendering or not even fighting.

As originally conceived, the MOAB was to be used against large formations of troops and equipment or hardened above-ground bunkers. The target set has also been expanded to include targets buried under softer surfaces, like caves or tunnels.

But while the MOAB bomb detonates with the power of 18,000 pounds of tritonal explosives, the size of its explosion pales in comparison to that of a nuclear bomb. 

 

 

Former Defense Secretary William Perry described the stark difference in power between a MOAB and nuclear bomb.

"The #MOAB explosive yield is 0.011 kilotons, typical nuclear yield is 10-180 kilotons - the US alone possesses over 7000 nuclear weapons," he tweeted.

"As ISIS-K's losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defense," Nicholson said in a statement following the strike.

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

"US forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike. US Forces will continue offensive operations until ISIS-K is destroyed in Afghanistan," read the statement from US Forces Afghanistan.

The extent of the damage and whether anyone was killed is not yet clear. The military is currently conducting an assessment.

MOAB bomb originally developed for Iraq war 00:57

The Pentagon is currently reviewing whether to deploy additional trainers to Afghanistan to help bolster US allies there.

The Achin district is the primary center of ISIS activity in Afghanistan. A US Army Special Forces soldier was killed fighting the terror group there Saturday.

There are about 8,400 US troops in Afghanistan and they regularly perform counterterrorism operations against ISIS in the Nangarhar Province.

The US counterterrorism mission is separate from the NATO-led effort to train, advise and assist the Afghan army and police force.

While ISIS is identified primarily with its presence in Iraq and Syria, US and coalition officials have long expressed concern about a growing presence in Afghanistan.

ISIS first emerged in the summer of 2015 in the country's east, fast gaining ground and support, often among disaffected Taliban or Afghan youth.

US military officials have said the ISIS branch is largely comprised of former members of regional terror groups, including the Pakistani Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

A US official told CNN that the military estimates are that the Afghan affiliate of ISIS has about 600 to 800 fighters, primarily based in two to three districts in southern Nangarhar. There are also a small number of ISIS operatives in Kunar province as well, the official added.

The Afghan offshoot's link to the organization's Syria-based leadership has been questioned. Many say in fact the Afghan ISIS fighters came from Pakistan and adopted the group's branding in order to get financing.

CNN's Zachary Cohen, Jim Acosta, Jeremy Diamond, Ehsan Popalzai and Euan McKirdy contributed to this report.

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US says 'mother of all bombs' hits ISIL in Afghanistan

Central Command says largest US non-nuclear bomb used in combat dropped on ISIL caves and bunkers in country's east.

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The explosive dropped was the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat [AP]

The US has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat in eastern Afghanistan on a series of caves used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, according to the Pentagon.
The GBU-43 bomb was dropped on Thursday from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan, said Adam Stump, Pentagon spokesman.
Also known as the "mother of all bombs", the GBU-43 is a 9,797kg GPS-guided munition and was first tested in March 2003, just days before the start of the Iraq war.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strike was designed to minimise the risk to Afghan and US forces conducting clearing operations in the area.
But the ultra-heavy explosive - equal to 11 tonnes of TNT with a blast radius of 1.6km on each side - could potentially cause many civilian casualties.

'Towering flames'

The bomb landed in the Momand Dara area of Achin district, according to Esmail Shinwari, district governor.

"The explosion was the biggest I have ever seen. Towering flames engulfed the area," Shinwari told AFP news agency.

"We don't know anything about the casualties so far, but since it is a Daesh [ISIL] stronghold we think a lot of Daesh fighters may have been killed."


General John Nicholson, the head of US and international forces in Afghanistan, said the bomb was used against caves and bunkers used by ISIL in Afghanistan, also known as ISIS-K.
"As ISIS-K losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence, he said.
"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K".
ISIL's offshoot in Afghanistan, created in 2015, is also known as the Khorasan Province.


Mark Kimmitt, a retired brigadier-general in the US army and former deputy assistant secretary of defence, played down the use of the GBU-43, saying it is "just another tool the military has".
"It allows us to go after deeply buried and hardened structures. It's good use against tunnels and it's also good use because it's going to set off IEDs in the area," he told Al Jazeera.
Kimmitt said it was not at all certain that "political authorities" were informed of the raid before it was carried out.
"Although the size of the bomb was a bit larger than normal, it was a routine military mission against a routine military target," he said.

The White House would not confirm whether or not President Donald Trump had authorised the use of the bomb.
"Everybody knows exactly what happened and what I do is I authorise my military," Trump told reporters.
"We have the greatest military in the world and they've done their job as usual. So, we have given them total authorisation."
US officials say intelligence suggests ISIL is based overwhelmingly in Nangarhar and neighbouring Kunar province, among tens of thousands of civilians.

ISIL strength

Estimates of ISIL's strength in Afghanistan vary.
US officials have said they believe the group has only 700 fighters, but Afghan officials estimate there are closer to 1,500 in the country.
Western and Afghan security officials believe fighters frequently switch allegiances between armed groups, making it difficult to know who is to blame for violence.
Peter Galbraith, a former US diplomat and former UN deputy special representative for Afghanistan, said ISIL would have to be targeted in different locations for the US military strategy to succeed.


"ISIL doesn't concentrate its forces ... so you have to target it in many different places," he told Al Jazeera.
He said conditions for military operations in ISIL's Syrian and Iraqi strongholds, Raqqa and Mosul, are different, as they are urban areas with civilian populations.
"A bomb of this magnitude could cause a lot of collateral damage," Galbraith said.
"But when you're using it in a remote, rural part of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan, you presumably can have some confidence that you'll not have civilian casualties, or at least not many of them."

U.S. drops "mother of all bombs" in Afghanistan, marking weapon's first use

 

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The U.S. dropped a bomb with an explosive force equal to 11 tons of TNT on a cave complex used by the Afghanistan branch of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on Thursday, the Pentagon said.
The bomb is officially called a GBU-43 or Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), the origin of its nickname as the “mother of all bombs.” Weighing more than 21,000 lbs., the weapon is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat.
The bomb was aimed at the center of an ISIS cave complex in Afghanistan, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports. The bomb set off a massive pressure cave that would have crushed the life out of any fighters hiding in the cave, and it sent a mushroom-like cloud into the sky, Martin reports.
General John Nicholson, the U.S. Commander in Afghanistan, said he used the bomb so Afghan troops and their American advisers wouldn’t have to go in on the ground to clear out the caves. There are an estimaged 600-800 ISIS fighters in Afghanistan, most of them located in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border.
The strike had been in the works for a number of months, dating back to the Obama administration, which is when the bomb itself had been moved into Afghanistan. The authority to use the bomb had been delegated to Nicholson, although he notified Washington in advance, Martin reports. 

At the White House, President Trump called the mission “another very, very successful mission.” Asked if he personally authorized the strike, Mr. Trump said “everybody knows exactly what happened.”“What I do is I authorize my military,” Mr. Trump said. “We have the greatest military in the world and they’ve done their job as usual. So, we have given them total authorization and that’s what they’re doing.”
Earlier at the daily White House briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer declined to say whether Mr. Trump had personally authorized the use of the weapon.
Spicer said that the strike targeted a “system of tunnels and caves that ISIS fighters used to move around freely.” He said the U.S. “took all precautions necessary” to minimize civilian casualties.
General John Nicholson, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, sought and obtained permission to use the MOAB, but it’s unclear how far up the chain of command his request traveled, Martin reports.
A U.S. soldier was killed in combat during an operation in Nangarhar just days before.
In a statement, the U.S. command in Afghanistan said the strike was “designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities,” using the term for ISIS’s Afghan contingent.
Officials “took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike,” the statement said.
Marcus Weisgerber, global business editor of Defense One, tells CBS News that this heavy bomb is used to “penetrate through rock and concrete and then once they get through, they explode, creating devastation to whatever is below.”
“It was the type of weapon that was most suited for this type of mission,” Weisgerber tells CBS News. “It was a target below the ground and there are a lot of people there -- and this is the type of weapon that would neutralize that number of people.”
In March 2003, the U.S. military debuted the 21,600-lb. MOAB during a test in Florida shortly before the invasion of Iraq. The test was intended to demonstrate the “enormous incentive” Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had to relinquish power and “spare the world a conflict,” then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at the time.
The cloud of debris from the ensuing explosion in the 2003 test was visible from more than 20 miles away, according to the Air Force. U.S. and coalition forces invaded Iraq nine days later, and a MOAB was deployed to the region on April 1, 2003, but never used.