ISIS Death Toll From 'Mother Of All Bombs' Reaches 92
The number of Islamic State (ISIS) fighters killed by the "Mother of All Bombs" (MOAB) has tripled to at least 92, Afghan officials claim. Authorities initially declared 36 militants died when the weapon was released on a tunnel and cave complex in eastern Afghanistan on April 13.
The GBU-43/B MOAB is the biggest non-nuclear armament in the U.S. military arsenal that can obliterate everything within a 1,000-yard radius. The bomb, which was dropped in eastern Nangarhar province bordering Pakistan, engulfed that remote area in mushroom clouds and towering flames.
American and Afghan ground forces that swept the area were confronted with pockets of resistance from insurgents.
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"New fighters have probably come from the other side of the border (Pakistan) to collect the dead bodies," Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari told Agence France Presse.
MOAB had been developed as early as 2003 and this was the first time it was used in combat. Critics deplored the Trump administration for making Afghanistan a testing ground for the weapon and using it against an insignificant enemy instead of the bigger threat which is the Taliban.
But Gen. John Nicholson, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, defended the move.
"The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in Nangarhar," he said.
Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington said the U.S. Army accomplished something if its aim was only to elicit shock and awe from ISIS. Nevertheless, he considers the operation "disproportionate" compared to the small target.
"The Taliban continues to sit pretty," he said.
While ISIS is known for its presence in Iraq and Syria, it has a growing presence in Afghanistan, particularly in the Achin district, its primary center of activity. The Afghan affiliate of ISIS is estimated to have 600–800 fighters primarily based in two to three districts in southern Nangarhar.
