The United States military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on a series of ISIS tunnels and caves in eastern Afghanistan Thursday.
The bomb is officially called the “Massive Ordinance Air Blast,’ or MOAB, but is much more commonly referred to as the “Mother of All Bombs.” It’s a GPS-guided GBU-43 bomb, which is 30 feet long and weighs a staggering 21,600 pounds, and leaves behind a massive crater. This is the first time the weapon has been used in combat.
The Daily Mail reports:
It was too big to drop from a traditional bomb-bay door or release from an aircraft wing, so 'we kicked it out the back door,' a U.S. official told Fox News.
According to CBS News:
“The strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. Forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities,” the Pentagon said in a statement, using the term for the Islamic State’s Afghanistan branch.
The military also said the U.S. “took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike.”
In all fairness, President Donald Trump did promise during his presidential campaign to “bomb the sh*t out of ISIS” if he were to be elected.
“I would just bomb those suckers. That's right. I'd blow up the pipes. ... I'd blow up every single inch. There would be nothing left,” he said during a campaign stop in Iowa at the time.
On its face, this looks like a pretty god follow-through.
For your viewing pleasure, here's a video of a 2013 MOAB test: