The US military has used its GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed “the mother of all bombs,” for the first time in combat. The US Air Force used it in Afghanistan to target Islamic State tunnels and personnel.

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.

The Air Force developed the MOAB in 2003, but it had never been used in combat until 7pm local time on Thursday.
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http://www.rt.com/usa/384646-pentagon-afghanistan-bomb-drop/

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/04/13/mother-all-bombs-moab-has-been-dropped-on-afghanistan-heres-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean.html

muslim buster.

A gift from the Easter bunny

I wonder if it was about to expire and someone just said "eh, better to use it than lose it."

Or if some high ranking official was all "I'm a week away from retirement...you know what I'd really like to see?..."

I think it 2 fold. The target was tunnels deep in the ground which were being used to ferry terrorists and weapons back and forth and I think the U.S. just wanted to send a message

A "yeah.. we will use it.. and we have more" message

Anyway you look at at it was " lights out" for a lot of bad guys.

A 16 million dollar bomb.... No wonder they've never been used....

..Why don't they just pay the bad guys to stop making trouble

we spent that 100 fold during the useless airstrikes during the last 8 years.

IMO.. If you are going to do it... then do it... and get it over with.. once and for all.

I think that's one of the reasons we're 20 trillion dollars in debt....

I'm sure most agree with you, except for the weapon makers and the politicians who they pay..

true.. I was talking to a guy from McDonald Douglas yesterday, they are salivating About Military contracts on the table. And we( Americans) just want it over.. decisive and complete.

Frankly I really don't care what we use.. just end it. As it will only grow.. they already proved that.

The "useless" airstrikes managed to end the imminent threat of an ISIS conquest of both Iraq and Syria.

Many people don't understand how different modern warfare is from what they were taught about wars like WW1 and 2. Those were wars against specific governments. Once the governments were overthrown, and replaced by other governments strong enough to guide those nations back in to peaceful pursuits, those wars ended.

We haven't fought a war of that kind since we reached a stalemate in Korea.

Don't delude yourself that dropping a REAAAAALLLY big bomb will suddenly cause people who's goals haven't changed in a hundred years to suddenly decide to settle down and behave.

Terrorist/guerrilla style warfare is a lot like battling crime, in that the battle never ends, you just find ways to keep the losses to a minimum.

Then let's just do enuff to put them on the endangered species list.

you know what.. I am not diluted.. and far from naïve... been around the block a few times.. done my time .. carrying that M16A4.. Have you?. When you are actually " in it" you want it to end.

Or are you a armchair quarterback?

Well.?

hell yeah !

isn't this the one they just slide out the back of a c130 ?

I've seen you use these words in quite a few of your posts.
I'm not quite sure what's worse, the fact that you think many people are beneath you or the fact you have a very high opinion of your own opinions.

Let's put them in time out and tell them they are a bad boy. Yay that will work

Glad to hear you aren't "diluted." Being mixed with a lot of water so that you don't have as much flavor as you should, isn't a great thing.

Past that, I have no idea what, if any, point you tried to make with this post. I can tell you a) didn't understand a word I wrote, and b) have negative ideas about me, but past that, nothing.

By the way, the latest news on this new bomb, is that it killed less than 35 enemy combatants. Got rid of the usefulness of those tunnels (for now), and that's a good thing. The general who ordered it's use, told interviewers that he had the ability to utilize it for over a decade now, and chose this occasion because it DID afford a specific target that required what it was made for, AND was remote enough not to endanger a lot of non-combatants.

Looks like a good usage overall to me. But watch out for the particular KIND of "conservatives" who look at things like cost versus kill ratios. They wont like the idea that it took a ten million dollar bomb to kill thirty bad guys.