Afghan bomb-dropping sends clear message to ISIS: US lawmakers

Washington, April 14 : American lawmakers have applauded the Trump administration after the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on Islamic State targets in eastern Afghanistan, saying “it sends a clear message” to terror groups in the region.
The US military on Thursday dropped a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed as ‘Mother of All Bombs’ on a tunnel complex of ISIS-Khorasan, a regional affiliate of the terror group, in Achin district of Afghanistan’s Nanagarh province, close to the Pakistani border.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan border area has tunnel complexes known to be used by ISIS and other terrorist groups operating in and out of Afghanistan.
This was the first time a MOAB was used in combat though it was developed in 2003.
According to General John Nicholson, commander of US Forces in Afghanistan: “As ISIS-Khorasan’s (ISIS-K) losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence, this is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of US offensive against ISIS-K.
“The decision to drop the MOAB in eastern Afghanistan sends a clear message that the US is committed and determined to defeating ISIS and other terrorist organisations in Afghanistan,” said Senator Jim Inhofe, senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“I spoke to President Ghani and our coalition partners about this same commitment when I visited Kabul this February. This strike supports our Afghan partners and their fight against these terrorist groups,” he said.
Inhofe applauded President Donald Trump’s commitment to the fight against terror, giving his military commanders and the authorities the need to defeat US enemies and sending a clear message to both enemies and allies of the US.