The Hill: US general reportedly viewed Afghan device as 'just another bomb'

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Last night, American forces dropped one of the largest conventional bombs ever used in combat on what they described as a tunnel complex used by the Islamic State militants in Nangarhar's Achin district.

Inamullah Meyakhil, spokesman for the central hospital in eastern Nangarhar province, said the facility had received no dead or wounded from the attack.

Although U.S. forces have not explicitly said how many terrorists the strike may have killed, Afghan defense officials put the number at 36.

The GBU-43, a non-nuclear, 10-tonne missile powered by a wave of air pressure, was dropped on Thursday onto caves used by the terror group.

Gen. Daulat Waziri, a ministry spokesman, said 36 IS fighters were killed, and that the death toll could likely rise. 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.

Trump said he authorised the use of the MOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast - and called the mission "very, very successful".

A statement on the IS-supporting Amaq news agency denied there were any IS casualties in the bomb strike.

The US military defended its decision when it was quizzed Friday on whether the behemoth bomb was necessary for that particular target.

"This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K", US General John Nicholson said in a statement after the bombing.

"The fight against Daesh in Nangarhar province has not been progressing due to a tunnel network made by Daesh", he said, using an acronym for the Arab name of ISIS.

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USA helicopters continued to launch strikes near the village Saturday, providing cover for Afghan troops and US military advisors on the ground.

But the use of the massive weapon has also drawn criticism, including from former President Hamid Karzai, who told a gathering in Kabul on Saturday that it amounted to "a national treason".

The bombing - along with the first United States military strikes against the Syrian regime last week - mark a dramatic change in attitude for Trump, who advocated an isolationist, "America first" foreign policy during his election campaign.

Residents in Afghan villages near the target area felt Thursday's powerful strike.

The local Afghan noted that he heard an "extremely loud boom that smashed the windows of our house".

The official said use of the weapon had nothing to do with sending a message to any other country, including North Korea.

"We were all scared, and my children and my wife were crying".

"I have witnessed a countless number of explosions and bombings in the last 30 years of war in Afghanistan, but this one was more powerful than any other bomb as far as I remember", a resident living about 1.5 miles from the blast told CNN.

The number of ISIS jihadists in Afghanistan peaked at 3,000. Pentagon video showed the bomb striking a mountainside overlooking a river valley with a giant blast that overwhelms the landscape and sent up a massive column of black smoke.

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