US drops largest non-nuclear bomb on Afghanistan

The 21,000-pound (9,525 kg) bomb was dropped in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan.

The Pentagon has confirmed the use of the MOAB, and is currently assessing damage. General John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on its use, CNN reported. Authority was also sought from General Joseph Votel, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM).

The Air Force developed the MOAB in 2003, but it had never been used in combat until 7pm local time on Thursday.

The use of the bomb comes as the US involvement in Afghanistan heads into its 16th year in the fall, and days after a US Special Forces operator was killed in the same region.

“The soldier was mortally wounded late Saturday during an operation in Nangarhar Province,” US Navy Captain Bill Salvin tweeted.

The MOAB was designed to target large below-ground areas. It would have “feel like a nuclear weapon to anyone near the area,” Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona (ret.) told CNN.

The GPS-guided munition would have already been in country before it was dropped out of an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, military sources told CNN’s Barbara Starr.