You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Afghanistan
MOAB: 'It felt like the heavens were falling'
2017-04-14
After his evening prayers, Mohammad Shahzadah closed the house gates and sat down for dinner. Then the blast came, engulfing the sky in flames and sending tremors through the ground.

"The earth felt like a boat in a storm," Shahzadah said. "I thought my house was being bombed. Last year a drone strike targeted a house next to mine, but this time it felt like the heavens were falling. The children and women were very scared."
Look on the bright side, Mo. The women and children didn't have to jump out of 60th floor windows to avoid being burned to death. (And don't think for a second we've forgotten about that.)
Also, if a drone hit the house next door last year and this year a MOAB was dropped less than two miles away, just whose side are you on?
The bomb was dropped in the mountains close to Moman village in an area called Asadkhel. About 1.5 miles away, in Shaddle Bazar where Shahzadah lives, the impact was palpable.

"My ears were deaf for a while. My windows and doors are broken. There are cracks in the walls," he said.
Don't worry -- the Delta Force Claim Adjustment Detachment will be there around 4 AM.
The following morning around 9am, fighter jets strafed the area, a local police commander, Baaz Jan, said.

"We don't know who was killed yesterday or this morning. But there is confusion and fear in the radio chats we are intercepting. There is limited communication among Isis fighters," he said.
Fighter 1: "Ouchies."
Fighter 2: "Humminahumminahummina."
Fighter 3: "Holy Shit!"
Fighter 4: (Rosebud)
Some observers, however, questioned the necessity of deploying a weapon of that scale against a group whose estimated 600 to 800 fighters pose only a limited threat to the Afghan state.
Outstanding. Let's mobilize the First Fightin' Observer Battalion and have them go clear a cave complex in hand-to-hand fighting.
Update at 12:15 p.m. EDT: CNN reports that Afghan officials say 36 ISIS fighters died, while Al Ahram reports that ISIS says no one was killed at all. It seems to me this kind of thing, widely reported as it has been, will make Afghanistan less attractive to ISIS fighters looking for their next battlefield after Iraq/Syria.
Posted by:Matt

#18  Some observers, however, questioned the necessity of deploying a weapon of that scale against a group whose estimated 600 to 800 fighters pose only a limited threat to the Afghan state.


How about they [jihadists] have just been p!$$ing us off for too long. We are just helping them get their 72 raisins.
Posted by: JohnQC   2017-04-14 22:25  

#17  Now that's a barrel bomb.
Posted by: Grailing Snort3782   2017-04-14 18:06  

#16  "There was no immediate comment from the Islamic State group on the attack"

Maybe because it's hard to comment when you're DEAD?
Posted by: Barbara   2017-04-14 17:22  

#15  Oh, the non-American globalist have. They show it everyday in their words and deeds.

Half of Congress for all intents and purposes *forgot* about it within a few weeks of 9/11. Half the American people took their cue from Congress and promptly forgot about it shortly thereafter.
Posted by: Crusader   2017-04-14 17:11  

#14  Worse than that #13, MSM is intent on finding out who ordered the strike as in their leftist, pro-Islamic, anti-WOT role.
Posted by: Nero White 3083   2017-04-14 15:47  

#13   (And don't think for a second we've forgotten about that.)

Oh, the non-American globalist have. They show it everyday in their words and deeds.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-04-14 15:30  

#12  I heard a report on NPR on the subject as I drove between hither and yon earlier today: they quoted an Afghan official as saying not only were 36 ISIS fighters killed, but no civilians whatsoever.
Posted by: trailing wife   2017-04-14 15:10  

#11  Such an explosion has a much greater effect in a valley area rather than flat terrain. The mountains around offer little escape for the blast causing considerable compression.
Posted by: Nero White 3083   2017-04-14 14:09  

#10  
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-04-14 12:51  

#9  T.E. "Lawrence of Arabia" Lawrence once asked for Turkish mountain guns because he felt the morale effect of "Big badda boom" on Arab irregulars was more important than any measurable effect...
Posted by: magpie   2017-04-14 12:03  

#8  "My ears were deaf for a while. "

Same thing happened to me, pal. Van Halen, summer tour of 1981 at the old Boston Garden. Couldn't hear right for two or three days. Helluva show!
Posted by: Raj   2017-04-14 11:43  

#7  Here's the video. I wonder if we could drop enough of these to spell K-I-M.
Posted by: Matt   2017-04-14 11:41  

#6  One user called it “our generation’s “Hiroshima”

Dude, you don't know "Hiroshima".
Posted by: Pappy   2017-04-14 11:33  

#5  Our former Caped Crusader isn't happy. Between this and the destruction of the heroin factories, he's butthurt:

Former President Hamid Karzai condemned the strike, saying it “is not the war on terror but inhuman, and (the) most brutal misuse of our country as (a) testing ground for new and dangeorus weapons. It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the USA.”

Karzi said, “I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon.”

Since news of the strike broke, most social media users in Afghanistan criticized both the Afghan government and U.S. One user called it “our generation’s “Hiroshima,” adding, “I’m still in shock.”
Posted by: Frank G   2017-04-14 11:08  

#4  More Afghan comments:
Another Achin resident, Mohammad Hakim, voiced his approval for the strike, saying “We are very happy and these kinds of bombs should be used in future as well, so Daesh is rooted out from here,” using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.

“They killed our women, youths and elders sitting them on mines. We also ask the Kabul government to use even stronger weapons against them,” Hakim added.

The U.S. estimates 600 to 800 IS fighters are present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. The U.S. has concentrated heavily on combatting them while also supporting Afghan forces battling the Taliban. President Donald Trump called Thursday’s operation a “very, very successful mission.”

“I want a hundred times more bombings on this group,” said Hakim Khan, 50, a resident of Achin district, the site of the blast.

Inamullah Meyakhil, spokesman for the central hospital in eastern Nangarhar province, said the facility had received no dead or wounded from the attack.

District Gov. Ismail Shinwari said there is no civilian property near the airstrike location.

There was no immediate comment from the Islamic State group on the attack.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-04-14 10:53  

#3  Other observers, however, question the necessity of resisting jihad.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-04-14 10:40  

#2  Mattis to World:
"We have more, and they're reaching their 'Use By' dates. Just sayin'"
Posted by: Frank G   2017-04-14 10:01  

#1  Better to deploy 1,000 MOABs than to needlessly risk American lives.
Posted by: DarthVader   2017-04-14 09:56  

00:00