The U.S. Air Force also modified the 12,000-pound Tallboy to create the T-10 for use against Imperial Japanese forces in the Pacific. Footage put out by the Pentagon showed the bomb slamming into a mountainside overlooking a river valley, causing a giant blast that overwhelms the landscape then sends up a massive column of black smoke. "It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield". When he says - unequivocally - in front of a joint session of Congress, at CPAC, when he says I am going to obliterate ISIS, literally, when he says, I am going to wipe the Islamic State off the face of the earth, it's not empty rhetoric.
Why was the bomb used?
Afghan officials said 36 fighters loyal to Islamic State were killed.
"No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which Da'ish used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed", Waziri said in a statement.
Designed in 2003 for use against Iraqi forces, the MOAB succeeded the Vietnam War-era, 15,000 pound BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter". It's also around 40% more powerful than its predecessor, the Vietnam-era Daisy Cutter, which was dropped on the Tora Bora cave complex where Osama Bin Laden was known to be hiding in 2001. Instead, troops load it into the cargo compartment of a specialized transport, the MC-130 Combat Talon, which releases it over the target by opening its ramp in the same way it might for paratroopers or air-dropped supplies.
"Last night's bomb was really huge, when it dropped, everywhere, it was shaking", said a resident, Palstar Khan, adding that he believed no civilians were in the area hit. The group, which is based in Nangahar province, has staged deadly attacks on civilians but failed to break out of its stronghold in the east.
Dozens of other villagers also came out of their homes, Wali said.
"They were Arabs, Pakistanis, Chinese and local insurgents coming to buy from shops in the bazaar", said resident Raz Mohammad.
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"I was in a decent position most of the time, I had a little group tail but I just followed Felix [English] through". Lewis Oliva bowed out of the keirin competition in the repechages.
On Friday, the village was swarming with Afghan and global troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead. "It is a larger version of weapons used during the Vietnam War", he continued.
Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai posted scathing criticism of the us military Thursday on Twitter, calling the operation a "brutal misuse of our country as [a] testing ground for new and risky weapons" and calling on Afghans "to stop" the United States.
Since news of the strike broke, most social media users in Afghanistan criticized both the Afghan government and U.S. One user called it "our generation's "Hiroshima", adding, "I'm still in shock".
"President Trump owes the American people an explanation about his escalation of military force in Afghanistan and his long-term strategy to defeat ISIS", she said in a statement posted on Twitter.
The Pentagon video of the MOAB strike in Afghanistan doesn't necessarily show an extensive amount of footage nor clear footage, but the fact that the bomb strike in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 36 ISIS fighters, as reported by the Associated Press, is winning praise from those who approved of the show of force by the USA military.
Last year, B-52 bombers operating out of Qatar flew at least two missions in Afghanistan for the first time since 2006. The weapon is carried on a special cradle inside the aircraft from which it is extracted by a parachute.
"The U.S. takes the fight against ISIS very seriously", Spicer said during the daily press briefing.
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