On April 13, the United States dropped a MOAB on Afghanistan. A MOAB, short for Massive Ordinance Air Blast , and colloquially called the "Mother Of All Bombs" is about 22,000 lbs. It is the largest non-nuclear weapon ever dropped by the United States and is the largest conventional bomb ever used in combat. This marks the first time that such a weapon has ever been used.
It was dropped on an ISIL tunnel complex in an attempt to destroy it as the bomb has enough power to do so. The goal of the weapon is also to have a psychological effect on the combatants due to how destructive the bomb truly is. Originally, the tunnels were built by the U.S. for the mujahideen, the precursor to the Taliban, in their effort to counter Soviet influence in Afghanistan. Of course, parts the mujahideen later formed into the Taliban, while others joined Osama bin Laden in forming what would later be al-Qaeda. Now, ISIL has decided to make use of those same tunnels.
In terms of a successful mission, the bombing actually went off quite well, unlike other incidences like the raid in Yemen which led to many civilian deaths. So far, there have been no known civilian casualties, while 36 ISIL militants were killed, and the tunnels were hit. However, this attack again demonstrates continued willingness to escalate the conflicts we have abroad. President Obama was not the greatest President when it came to intervening overseas, but he was scaling back our involvement as his term went on. Donald Trump, however, ran on an America First platform then immediately tossed that aside upon entering the White House and is now letting the neoconservatives run the foreign policy agenda.
There are at most 800 ISIL fighters in Afghanistan, and they are in there fighting America's other enemy in the region, the Taliban. The dropping of the MOAB was a major show of force that far exceeds any bombing that the United States has performed since the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan. The attack comes right off the heels of the attack in Syria on Assad's regime and further shows the increase of involvement in the Middle East. The bomb may also have been dropped in order to send a message to North Korea as Trump sends his warships, ready to attack if they perform a nuclear test.
It is clear that the United States is setting itself up for a much more aggressive, attack-based foreign policy than what we saw under President Obama. As our involvement increases, we can only wait and see what is going to occur next.
