On Thursday April 13th, 2017 the United States of America dropped the Mother of all Bombs in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The 22,000 pound bomb is the largest non-atomic bomb ever dropped. The bomb was meant to hit an area where it is said to be taken over by members of ISIS, although it failed to hit the Islamic State stronghold in the mountains of the Achin district. President Trump says that he gave the US military total authorization and is pleased with the results. The US has yet to release the number of casualties caused by the massive bomb, despite the many attempts made. Furthermore, according to Zabihullah Zmarai, the American military are preventing Afghan forces as well as citizens to visit from visiting the bombed area.
Noon, on April 24th, 2017, the United Nations press conference took place with Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General was answering questions. When asked if there was any update on exactly what was happening at this point Dujarric replied, “It was a tragic and horrendous attack on Afghan National Army soldiers. We have no investigation into the issue. We were not there. All we see is the tragedy that this attack sowed on these soldiers.” While the current president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani’s office says the US attack was a joint operation between Afghan and international troops however in a series of tweets former president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai is deeply disappointed stating, “This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing grounds for new and dangerous weapons. It is up to us Afghans to stop the USA.”
Many feel that the $300 million dollar bomb that was dropped will not even begin to solve the issues with terrorists in Afghanistan as it hasn’t even scratched the surface of the issue. Feroz Mohmand, former press officer to Hamid Karzai tweeted,
Only 36 #ISIS killed. The bomb cost is $300 million? The war in AFG will not end until #US eliminate terrorists roots in #Pak #moab
— Feroz Mohmand (@FerozMohmand) April 14, 2017
Dujarric was unable to answer questions pertaining to the United Nations involvement on this matter.