Story highlights
- The MOAB is known as the 'mother of all bombs'
- The target was ISIS tunnels and personnel
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.
Trump won't say if he signed off on bomb use 01:33
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."
White House: Bomb targeted ISIS tunnels, caves 00:47
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.
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.
Afghanistan ambassador weighs in on bombing 02:27
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.
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.
'Mother of all bombs': test footage shows destructive force of GBU-43/B – video
Footage from 2003 shows the GBU-43/B bomb being tested at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Nicknamed the “mother of all bombs”, the GBU-43/B was used for the first time by the US military on Thursday to target a ‘tunnel complex’ used by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan
affiliate. It is the largest non-nuclear bomb the US has ever used in
combat. Designed for destroying underground targets but not itself a
deep-earth penetrator weapon, the GBU-43/B has the explosive yield of
more than 11 tons of TNT.
Footage from 2003 shows the GBU-43/B bomb being tested at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Nicknamed the “mother of all bombs”, the GBU-43/B was used for the first time by the US military on Thursday to target a ‘tunnel complex’ used by the Islamic State’s Afghanistan
affiliate. It is the largest non-nuclear bomb the US has ever used in
combat. Designed for destroying underground targets but not itself a
deep-earth penetrator weapon, the GBU-43/B has the explosive yield of
more than 11 tons of TNT.