"It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield".
In Achin village, about 3 miles from the remote, mountainous area where the bomb was dropped, witnesses said the ground shook, but homes and shops appeared unaffected.
Nicholson was capable of deploying the weapon under longstanding authorities for ordering offensive strikes against al Qaeda and affiliated terrorists, the source said.
Wali said dozens of other villagers also came out of homes and later he went near the border, where he met with other residents.
No civilians were injured in the raid, which took place in the Mohmand Dara village, Asadkhil area of the district, the statement added.
Karzai called President Ashraf Ghani's government an "accomplice" that allowed and welcomed the use of the bomb.
On Friday, the village was swarming with Afghan and global troops, as helicopters and other aircraft flew overhead.
We are also joined by Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, who is just back from Afghanistan, and Wazhmah Osman, professor of media and communication at Temple University and member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association.
By mid-2015, after a violent campaign against community rivals, including skirmishes against local Afghan Taliban elements, the newly formed ISIS-K began to grow exponentially.
"Afghan and foreign troops closely coordinated this operation and were extra cautious to avoid any civilian casualties", it said.
Arkansas inmates try variety of arguments to avoid death
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, meanwhile, says she is pursuing an appeal of the stay of Davis' and Ward's executions. Bruce Ward and Don Davis had originally been the first of eight Arkansas inmates scheduled to die within 11 days of each other.
"This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as a testing ground for new and unsafe weapons", he said on Twitter.
American and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years.
The commander of the US forces in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, defended the use of the bomb and confirmed the target of the strike was the network of tunnels that ISIS fighters use to move around and protect themselves from Afghan and USA forces.
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.
Such aircraft can carry as much as 70,000 pounds of bombs, missiles, or other weapons on each mission.
The U.S. estimates 600-800 Islamic State fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar.
The blast radius of the massive bomb that United States forces dropped on Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) territory in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province was well over a kilometre in every direction - and its message was heard worldwide.
The US bomb was dropped as Washington comes under increased scrutiny over its military actions in the Middle East - three US-led airstrikes in the past month that have killed civilians or allies.
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.
Comments