On Thursday the 13th of April 2017, US forces dropped the largest conventional bomb in its arsenal on an ISIS tunnel complex in Nangarhar province, in eastern Afghanistan.
A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB), nicknamed the “mother of all bombs,” was dropped at 7:32 p.m. local time, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission. A MOAB is a 30-foot-long, 21,600-pound, GPS-guided ammunition, developed in 2003 during the first Iraq War. It is one of the most powerful bombs in the US armory outside of nuclear weapons. The bomb’s explosion is equivalent to 11 tons of TNT and its blast radius is said to be a mile wide.
Afghan officials said 36 militants were killed in this strike in Nangarhar province, where the US military previously estimated ISIS had 600 to 800 active fighters. The blast from the weapon destroyed three underground tunnels as well as weapons and ammunition, but no civilians were hurt, said an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman.
For the US President Mr. Trump, is it difficult to imagine how the people are feeling who live in the war countries and how it is when the most powerful non-nuclear bomb explodes next to your house or even in your house? A local resident living around two kilometers (1.5 miles) from the blast told CNN that he heard an “extremely loud boom that smashed the windows of our house. We were all scared and my children and my wife were crying. We thought it had happened right in front of our house.” This is a statement of a single person what was reported. And Mr. Trump said easily: “What I do is I authorize my military.” He called the bombing “another very, very successful mission.” Furthermore he said: “We have the greatest military in the world. We have given them total authorization, and that’s what they are doing, and frankly, that’s why they have been so successful lately.”
Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have become the bombing fields of the Americans. March was the deadliest month for civilians ever recorded by Airwars, a group that tracks bombings. The number of civilian casualties reported in American-led strikes in Iraq and Syria has increased since Mr. Trump took office. Reports of civilian casualties in both these countries jumped from 1,782 to 3,471.
Iain Overton, the executive director of Action on Armed Violence, said in an e-mail: “The hard truth is…when explosive weapons are used in populated areas, over 90 percent of those killed or injured will be civilians and when explosive violence is used in lesser populated areas, at least 25 percent of those killed or injured will be civilians. In short, the bigger the blast you create, the more civilians will be killed.”
Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Military Times: “What the MOAB does is basically suck out all of the oxygen and lights the air on fire. It’s a way to get into areas where conventional bombs can’t reach.”
Matthew Bolton, director of the International Disarmament Institute at Pace University says it is unlikely that this sort of weapon could spare civilians. He said, “It is difficult to imagine how it might be used in the kind of wars the US now fights, often in urban areas, without posing serious dangers to civilians.”
How can a rational human mind assume that no civilian casualties have arisen through this powerful bomb? With which face can the Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani approve the strike, saying it was “designed to support the efforts of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and US forces … conducting clearance operations in the region”? What kind of confidence can the Afghan population have in the President Ashraf Ghani after this Aggression and how much trust can the Afghans have in the secular media of this country? Should the people actually expect the media, to report on the civilian victims in Nangarhar or can they already see the number of victims in the flames of the bomb?
These and many other questions about the trustworthiness of the Afghan government as well as the governments of other Muslim countries are floating in the air. The enemies of Islam use the Muslim lands as a testing ground for their weapons, and it does not raise a whimper of opposition from the regimes of the Muslim world who have sold their soul to their western masters. Indeed, the criminal incidents and hypocritical actions of the rulers speak for themselves. The fact is that secularists are masters of violence and terror and the Governments in the Muslim Lands are their instruments. The secularists do not manage to democratize the Muslims and bring them away from Islam, so they use the strongest weapons they have to terrorise the Muslims. But they do not know that destiny and destruction are only by Allah (swt)’s Leave. Whereas Mr. Trump may even leave his identity and his country because of a shotgun, a true believer will not neglect his Islamic convictions even when faced with the most powerful bomb in the world.
Oh worthy Ummah of Afghanistan! Allah (swt) grants the victory to whom He wants, so continue in increase your work for the re-establishment of the Caliphate on the method of the prophethood! Even if the unbelievers design much stronger weapons, Allah (swt) has promised the victory to the Ummah of the Prophet ﷺ! Only the establishment of a Caliphate will mark the beginning of the protection of the Ummah!
وَلَقَدْ نَصَرَكُمُ اللّهُ بِبَدْرٍ وَأَنتُمْ أَذِلَّةٌ فَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ * إِذْ تَقُولُ لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَلَن يَكْفِيكُمْ أَن يُمِدَّكُمْ رَبُّكُم بِثَلاَثَةِ آلاَفٍ مِّنَ الْمَلآئِكَةِ مُنزَلِينَ * بَلَى إِن تَصْبِرُواْ وَتَتَّقُواْ وَيَأْتُوكُم مِّن فَوْرِهِمْ هَذَا يُمْدِدْكُمْ رَبُّكُم بِخَمْسَةِ آلافٍ مِّنَ الْمَلآئِكَةِ مُسَوِّمِينَ
“And already had Allah given you victory at [the battle of] Badr while you were few in number. Then fear Allah; perhaps you will be grateful. [Remember] when you said to the believers, “Is it not sufficient for you that your Lord should reinforce you with three thousand angels sent down? Yes, if you remain patient and conscious of Allah and the enemy come upon you [attacking] in rage, your Lord will reinforce you with five thousand angels having marks [of distinction]”
(Al-Imraan 123-125)
Amanah Abed
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir