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U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster was in Kabul on Sunday for what is the first visit by a Trump administration official to Afghanistan, officials here said, coming just days after U.S. forces dropped a 22,000-pound bomb during combat and revived debate over the war. President Trump has so far said little about the conflict, where more than 8,000 U.S. troops are helping battle the Taliban, raising concerns among Afghan officials about the administration's commitment to the fight.
'Mother of all bombs' killed 94 ISIS fighters, Afghan official says - Kabul (CNN)At least 94 Islamic State fighters were killed when the US military dropped America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS targets in Afghanistan, an Afghan official said Saturday.
As President Donald Trump's administration drafts an Afghanistan policy, U.S. officials are seeking a way to reverse gains by militant groups without wading deeper into a 15-year-long war that has no end in sight. In the past month, three U.S. service members have been killed in operations against Islamic State militants near Afghanistan's porous border with Pakistan, where armed groups still find sanctuary.Officially, the U.S.-led international force in Afghanistan ceased combat operations at the end of 2014, but the conflict has proved difficult to exit without risking the overthrow of the government in Kabul.
The strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities. ISIS-K, also known as the Khorasan group, is based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and is composed primarily of former members of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.
The strike was designed to minimize the risk to Afghan and U.S. forces conducting clearing operations in the area while maximizing the destruction of ISIS-K fighters and facilities. ISIS-K, also known as the Khorasan group, is based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and is composed primarily of former members of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.
The first deployment of the most powerful conventional bomb has succeeded in its mission , according to both US and Afghan sources, without any civilian casualties. The post-attack bomb damage assessment tallies up 36 ISIS-K casualties in Nangarhar and the destruction of caves and tunnels used for transit and subterfuge by the terrorist group, an offshoot of the so-called Islamic State in Syria.
The U.S. Department of Defense shared video of the moment its 21,600-pound, "mother of all bombs" struck a cave and tunnel system in Kabul, Afghanistan Thursday, April 13. It marked the first use of the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, which U.S. officials say is the most powerful, non-nuclear bomb out there with 11 tons of explosives. The MOAB -- officially called the BGU-43/B -- was first developed in the 2000s during the Iraq War and underwent a formal review by the Pentagon of legal justification for its combat use, the Associated Press said.
The U.S. military has dropped an approximately 22,000-pound bomb nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" on ISIS forces in Afghanistan -- the first time it has been used in combat. The bomb is touted as one of the largest non-nuclear weapons in the U.S. military's arsenal.
Matias Ferreira, a former U.S. Marine Corps lance corporal who lost his legs below the knee when he stepped on a hidden explosive in Afghanistan in 2011, is joining a suburban New York police department. The 28-year-old graduated Friday from the Suffolk County Police Academy on Long Island after 29 weeks of training.
Matias Ferreira, a former U.S. Marine Corps lance corporal who lost his legs below the knee when he stepped on a hidden explosive in Afghanistan in 2011, is joining a suburban New York police department. The 28-year-old graduated Friday from the Suffolk County Police Academy on Long Island following 29 weeks of training.
In case you missed it: A story published March 4, in The Daily News written by Sarah Hauck headlined, "Task force prepares for Afghanistan deployment," reported on a live-fire training exercise she and I attended March 3 aboard Camp Lejeune.
Afghans who worked for the U.S. military and government are being told that they cannot apply for special visas to the United States, even though Afghanistan is not among the countries listed in President Donald Trump's new travel ban, according to advocates for Afghan refugees. As of Thursday, Afghans seeking to apply for what are known as special immigrant visas were being told by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the capital, that applications would no longer be accepted, according to U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Officials at the embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A suicide bomber who attacked a military base in Iraq this week was a former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed in 2004 after Britain lobbied for his release, raising questions about the ability of security services to track the whereabouts of potential terrorists. The Islamic State group identified the bomber as Abu Zakariya al-Britani, and two British security officials also confirmed the man was a 50-year-old Briton formerly known as Ronald Fiddler and as Jamal al-Harith.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he plans to make some decisions soon on whether to recommend an increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and whether the totals should be based on military requirements rather than pre-set limits. Mattis told reporters traveling with him that he spoke for several hours by video conference on Sunday with U.S. Gen.
Gen. John Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, told Congress that Russia's interference in Afghanistan began in 2016 and is progressing. "I think their goal is, undermine the United States and NATO in Afghanistan," Nicholson told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday.
The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Thursday said that several thousand more troops are needed to train and advise Afghan forces and break the "stalemate" in their fight against the Taliban. Army Gen.
The Afghan Taliban released a new video Wednesday purportedly showing two teachers from the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul begging Donald Trump to make a deal for their release. What appears to be the first "proof of life" of kidnapped US citizen Kevin King, 60, and of Australian citizen Timothy Weeks, 48, was posted online by the Taliban and distributed to media outlets.