It's been widely reported that the U.S. military dropped what is considered the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in a strike against ISIS on Thursday. According to the White House press briefing on that day, Sean Spicer said that the bomb was used on ISIS fighters hidden in tunnels and caves on Wednesday in Nangarhar province in afghanistan around 7 PM and that it was “large, powerful and accurate.” It's been reported thus far that 94 ISIS militants were killed.
The bomb is called the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) and was dropped by a C-130 cargo plane. When asked what lead to the strike, Spicer referred reporters to the Department of Defense. But in a report by NBC News titled: “U.S. drops 'mother of all bombs' on ISIS target in Afghanistan” they said that official authorization is not required for its use which it would appropriately suggest that the military acted independently. It still left the question as to why the military decided to use it. Later, President Trump would say that he had given total authorization of the military to make that their own decisions and that it did not apply to the bomb itself.
It's been said by some analysts that when it was an ISIS camp was discovered in Afghanistan, and the military conducted air strikes on the camp which used up of missiles. Therefore it was suggested that a bomb like this was used out of convenience.
Show of force against ISIS
Syria and Iraq are not the only places where ISIS, ISIL, Daesh and also often called the Islamic State, have spread. They've also gained influence in Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan and nearby Pakistan where it's been reported that the terrorist group have come in and massacred Taliban fighters. Gen. John W. Nicholson who is the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has referred to the group that they targeted as ISIS-K (Khorasan).
Over the use of the bomb, the military has said that they've taken precautions to make sure no civilians would be killed and according to the Afghanistan government, no civilians were.
Since Donald Trump has been president, he has been supportive of tactics of intimidation and shows of strength to gain more leverage. Last week the President gave the okay to attack a Syrian airbase with Tomahawk cruise missiles in response to that government's chemical attack against civilians. He has also shown force with China over solving the problem with North Korea by sending a strike group to the East China Sea as a Show Of Force against Kim Jong-un.
About current battles that the U.S. are engaged in throughout the Middle East, President Trump has called for the increase of attacks against ISIS in Mosul and Raqqa.
While campaigning, Trump asked for the killing of terrorists and their families as a tactic and has even threatened to boost nuclear weapons to retaliate if necessary. But he also said that he “would bomb the shit out of ISIS.” The blast of the GBU-43 is said to be terrifying and clearly, by dropping it, was intended to send a message to ISIS-K.
MOAB's history and reaction
President Trump said that by him allowing the military to decide on what action to take; that this is why they've been so successful. It was reported that the planning to use the bomb began during the Obama administration and that the top generals in Afghanistan moved the bomb into position before Trump took office, likely under the correct assumption that he would respond positively.
In a segment on Charlie Rose, one reporter said that the MOAB was built in 2003 during the Bush administration, but it had never been used and had been stored in Afghanistan since. More details on the bomb's capacity are that it's designed to explode before it hits the ground and ignites the air which likely filled the caves.
NBC News included the analysis of the director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists Hans Kristensen, who said of the 22,000 pound bomb: “that the explosive power of even the smallest nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal, the B-61 bomb, is “an order of magnitude” larger than the GBU-43.” Retired Marine Colonel Steven Ganyard said on ABC News that the bomb is 10 tons of explosives and has an affected radius of 1 mile.
He said that because of the deep valley gorges in the area, as the weapon hits the valley floor the blast would be focused into caves to take out ISIS fighters.
Many have taken issue with the use of this bomb as it's part of President Donald Trump's aggressive military agenda. Due to recent events with Russia over Syria, President Putin responded to the news about the "mother of all bombs" and said that they had something better, the "father of all bombs" to one-up the U.S.
The former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai condemned the bomb saying that Afghanistan should not be a testing ground for the U.S.'s weapons, saying that it was up to Afghans to “stop the USA.”