No need for Trump’s approval to use massive bomb

“Short of that, an unwillingness to cooperate, the goal is to have the capabilities of the coalition so clear and so obvious that there is an enormous disincentive for the Iraqi military to fight against the coalition, and there’s an enormous incentive for Saddam Hussein to leave and spare the world a conflict”.

The first strike – the launching of cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase in retaliation forSyrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical attack on his own civilians – drew praise from unlikely suspects. The Pentagon and Central US Command have not confirmed that Mr Trump was the one to give the order for the bomb.

The strike “targeted a system of tunnels and cave that ISIS fighters use to move around freely”.

During the final stages of testing in 2003, military officials told CNN that the MOAB was mainly conceived as a weapon employed for “psychological operations”.

While Trump’s newfound interventionist attitude was welcomed by hawks in his own party and even some opposition figures, Democrat Representative Jackie Speier voiced concerns over increasing United States military involvement in Afghanistan following Thursday’s bombing. “You know, you go back to [retired] Gen. [Stanley] McChrystal about the importance of knowing who gets killed in these attacks because that’s the real question about our future’s safety”. The bomb kills through overpressure. “And I think it’s important that the timeliness that these responses to provocations is sending a message”.

The top USA commander in Afghanistan said recently that he needed several thousand more worldwide troops in order to break a stalemate in the long war with Taliban insurgents.

President Barack Obama was notorious for his tendency to painfully deliberate military decisions.

When asked if North Korea would use nuclear weapons if they felt they were being attacked, Ryol replied “of course”.

He added, “Frankly, that is why they have been so successful lately, if you look at what has happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what has happened over the last eight years, you will see there has been a tremendous difference”. He said he could see smoke in the sky.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb – better known as the “Mother Of All Bombs” – hit IS hideouts in Achin district in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday.

Nicholson said he was in constant communication with officials in Washington, but the decision to use the 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43 bomb was based on his assessment of military needs and not broader political considerations.

Also, as former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a tweet, quoted by the New York Times, the USA was testing its unused ordnance in Afghanistan (much as it had done in Iraq during the first Iraq war).

The U.S. assessment is still in progress, a Pentagon official tells NPR’s Tom Bowman, adding that there’s a chance the death toll might include results from two other smaller operations against ISIS-K that took place Thursday night.

An Afghan official said Saturday that the death toll in the wake of the most powerful non-nuclear bomb dropped by the USA military has risen to at least 94, CNN reported.

Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US, Hamdullah Mohib, said the colossal MOAB was dropped after fighting had intensified over the last week. “What is special about today?”

The statement said it is the responsibility of Afghans, not the USA, to remove the Islamic State group from the country.