He defended the use of the massive weapon, saying it was created to destroy the types of caves and tunnels that Islamic State militants use to evade coalition forces.
Officials said ISIS, which has expanded into Afghanistan in recent years, was using a complex of caves and tunnels that were mined and fortified against conventional attack.
Plumes of smoke were visible from several miles away as the airstrikes provided cover for Afghan commandos and US advisers who have been locked in a two-week battle to clear a network of tunnels used by Islamic State militants - the target of the Thursday bombing.
The MOAB is a custom-made Air Force weapon that has been in the arsenal for more than a decade but never used on the battlefield, although it was available throughout the Iraq war, the AP said.
Deptula, Cancien and USA military officials said the United States had an even larger bomb in its inventory - the 14,000kg GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which would be more effective against North Korea's nuclear test site, given its ability to penetrate reinforced concrete and anti-blast steel doors.
The deaths have not been independently verified, but ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels.
The bomb's destructive power, equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, pales in comparison with the relatively small atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War Two, which had blasts equivalent to between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of TNT. In reality, the blast was around three miles away, its massive impact bigger than any before seen in the region.
Another Achin resident, Mohammad Hakim, voiced his approval for the strike, saying "We are very happy and these kinds of bombs should be used in future as well, so Daesh is rooted out from here", using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group. The official said Nicholson wanted to demonstrate to leaders of the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan the seriousness of his determination to eliminate the group as a military threat.
An expert on military airpower and national security at the University of Kentucky says this week's airstrike in Afghanistan was surprising, but media coverage may be overhyping the size of the weapon dropped near the Pakistani border Thursday.
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The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is investigating the attack, but has yet to reach a conclusion. The attack against a Syrian air base was the first United States assault against the government of President Bashar Assad.
Yesterday, the village was swarming with Afghan and global troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said in a statement the attack was a part of a joint operation by Afghan and global troops. The region where the strike took place, the restive Achin district, has for almost two years been the site of fierce fighting between the local Islamic State affiliate, known as Khorasan Province, and U.S and Afghan forces.
American officials said the bomb had been positioned for possible use in Afghanistan for "some time" since the administration of former president Barack Obama. An American special forces soldier was killed last Saturday in Nangarhar while conducting anti-IS operations.
The United States has steadily intensified its air campaign against Islamic State and Taliban militants in Afghanistan, with the Air Force deploying almost 500 weapons in the first three months of 2017, up from 300 in the corresponding 2016 period.
After the recent missile attack by US forces in Syria following an alleged chemical attack by the Bashar al-Assad government against its own people, it is not unlikely that unleashing the earth-shattering bomb in Afghanistan is also meant to be an object lesson for the wider West Asia theatre in a classic case of the conveying of imperialist ambitions under a new US President.
Such aircraft can carry as much as 70,000 pounds (32,000 kg) of bombs, missiles, or other weapons on each mission. It said they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties.
The test facility supports fast response threat tests for all branches of the US military, as well as for defense contractors and foreign allies.
Last year, air strikes by worldwide forces caused at least 127 civilian deaths and 108 injuries, up from 103 deaths and 67 injuries in 2015, the United Nations said.
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