BREAKING: US military drops 21,000-pound non-nuclear bomb -- known as the “mother of all bombs” — in Afghanistan https://t.co/EOji2tjxzi pic.twitter.com/VlQNjTRnqa
— CNN (@CNN) April 13, 2017
The U.S. military dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Wednesday, Pentagon officials told CNN. In a press conference shortly after the news broke, Sean Spicer said that the target was an ISIS tunnel and cave complex. The A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb was developed during the Iraq War and tested by the military in 2003. Government officials confirmed that this is the first time the bomb has been used in battle.
"At around 7 p.m. local time in Afghanistan last night, the United States military used a GBU-43 weapon," Sean Spicer said during a press conference on Thursday. "The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously and, in order to defeat the group, we must deny them operational space, which we did."
General John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, approved the use of the bomb, according to CNN. The military is currently evaluating the damage.
Sean Spicer on the bomb dropped in Afghanistan: "The United States takes the fight against ISIS very seriously." https://t.co/8gNyTiz8SM
— CNN (@CNN) April 13, 2017
Trumpeting the size of the bomb, rather than the results (if there were any), is basically the way the government narrated the Vietnam War.
— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) April 13, 2017