Weapon for the target, americas most senior Military Commander in afghanistan has defended the decision to drop a huge bomb on Islamic State militants in a remote area in the east of the country. This is the first time the us has deployed in combat the massive ordinance air blast bomb, referred to as the mother of all bombs. The afg ha n to as the mother of all bombs. The afghan doc mac says 36 militants we re afghan doc mac says 36 militants were killed and no civilians although Islamic State denies that. The afghan government. Frank gardner reports. A remote valley in a remote country. Then, this. 11 tonnes of high explosives, dropped an an isis tunnel complex in afghanistan. The blast was felt 30 miles away. The weapon used is called moab, or Massive Ordnance Air burst, also known as the mother of all bombs. This was its first time used in combat. This was the right weapon against the right target. We will continue to work shoulder to shoulder with our afghan comrades. To eliminate
bombs on an isis tunnel complex in afghanistan. this is the most powerful non-nuclear weapon dropped in combat, and i want to bring in our experts to talk about this and what this means. so to you first, peter bergen, and you ve written about this hon cnn.com. why this weapon and why now? well, the why now, i think, you know, the afghan war is at the worst point it s been since the taliban a decade envelope ago. obviously they have brought in people like isis, some of these isis groups and people who are slapping on the isis patch themselves and elements of al qaeda are returning and from back stan interestingly. i m skeptical this is really about the afghan war. he s not paid to worry about other things. his decision as cnn has been reporting, and, you know, he took the strike not donald trump.
process, that s not what we heard today. we heard a president that didn t say it was his call to sign off on this move, but certainly with his full blessing behind the u.s. military. for the second time in a week the trump administration leveraging the full force of the u.s. military. we are so proud of our military, and it was another successful event. reporter: but the president doesn t appear to have personally signed off on the hit in afghanistan. instead, suggesting he s authorized the military to make such moves. everybody knows exactly what happened. so and what i do is i authorize my military. we are the i think graest military in the world, and they ve done a job as usual. so we have given them total authorization. reporter: trump demured on whether the move doubles as a warning shot to north korea. i don t know if it sends a message. doesn t make a difference or not. reporter: the strike in afghanistan a follow through on at least one of trump s campaign trail p
the u.s. military dropped i think largest non-nuclear bomb targeting an isis complex in afghanistan at more than 21,000 pounds the device is nicknamed the mother of all bombs. let s go to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. they broke the story earlier take. barbara, this is first combat use of this weapon? reporter: that s right, wolf. it is an important point to make. it is the largest bomb dropped in combat ever, we are told, by the united states military. it was midday in washington when this happened in eastern afghanistan, a very remote mountainous area near the pakistan border, dropped against a complex, we are told, of tunnels and caves being used by isis fighters in that area of eastern afghanistan. the u.s. had been targeting this isis group for some time. they had been moving through the area. we are told that this mission started being planned several days ago, that the commander in afghanistan had had the
complex in afghanistan near the pakistan border, but the decision to use this particular weapon could have some serious global consequences. let s bring in our panel of experts. phil mudd, this is a significant development, but from your perspective how significant? i think there are two pieces that are significant. first, if you re bashar al assad and you look those tomahawk missiles last week you have to be saying, i hope this one is not dropped on us. i think whether the message was meant to be sent or not, it had been to be received. i think it is more sult will but hugely significant. december of 2001, where does bin laden lead through? eastern afghanistan through a cave and tunnel complex. fast forward to know, april of 2017. what are we using a bomb on after 16 years of warfare? a cave and tunnel complex in eastern afghanistan, now not against al qaeda but against isis. it gives a message of the length of this war. furthermore, it gives a message