Province east of Kabul. This was the first time it was used in combat. In this area, a Special Forces (Green Beret) solider died of enemy small fire Saturday while his unit was conducting counter-ISIS operations.
Known also as the Mother of all Bombs, the GBU-43 bomb was dropped Thursday on a large group of ISIS fighters hiding in caves from an MC-130 jet. For comparison, a Tomahawk cruise missile has a 1,000lb warhead. The bomb, which has a mile-wide radius, was first tested in 2002 but never used until Thursday. It was dropped as the Trump administration was mulling sending more troops to Afghanistan.
The White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that the US takes the war on ISIS very seriously and acted on the need to deny “operational space” to the many of its fighters who use tunnels and caves for attacks. Every effort was made to avoid collateral damage to civilians.
This unprecedentedly powerful attack is seen as sending a message to ISIS everywhere - its network in AFghanistan is spreading - and to Kim Jong-un on the eve of North Korea’s anniversary celebrations and threats of a sixth nuclear test. debkafile adds that the Trump administration was also signaling Russia and Iran about the lengths to which he is willing to go in American military operations.
Source: http://app.debka.com/n/article/26010/US-drops-MOAB-first-time-in-combat-in-Afghanistan
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