The Department of Defense released a video of its GBU-43 bomb, the largest non-nuclear weapon it has ever used in combat, strike a target in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Thursday, April 13, 2017. ISIS forces were believed to be in tunnels and caves, and the massive bomb, nicknamed the “mother of all bombs,” killed 36 fighters, according to…
The "mother of all bombs" that the U.S. military dropped in Afghanistan Thursday is so big it has to be pushed out of a cargo plane with a parachute attached, NBC News reported.
The largest non-nuclear bomb the military has ever dropped, weighing 21,000 pounds, the GBU-43 creates a mushroom cloud visible up to 20 miles away. And it's notable that it wasn't used in current flashpoints like Syria or even North Korea.
"Afghanistan was not really on the agenda during Donald Trump's presidential campaign, but ISIS was," explained Emily Winterbotham, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.
The militant group is attempting to establish a foothold along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, even though it's more than 1,500 miles from their stronghold in Iraq and Syria.
