(Afghanistan) Almost a week after the United States dropped the ‘Mother of All Bombs’ on a terrorist cave complex in the Archin District of Nangargar Province, fierce fighting is still going on between Afghan security forces and a terrorist organization affiliated with the Islamic State. According to CAPT Bill Salvin, spokesperson for Operation Resolute Support, ongoing fighting in the area was confirmed and that there had been significant IED activity in the area. On Wednesday, Salvin stated that “We are still engaged in active combat with the enemy.” After U.S. forces arrived at the site of the bombing, American Special Operations soldiers fought alongside their counterparts, before departing to conduct combat operations in the surrounding area. According to Salvin, American Forces are “In contact with the enemy.”
These ongoing combat operations occur after the April 13th employment of the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), the first such application of the weapon in combat. The bomb was dropped in the same area that U.S. Special Forces soldier SSG Mark De Alencar was killed earlier this month. Some speculated that the use of the most devastating non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal was a direct response to the death of the Green Beret. According to Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the MOAB killed at least 94 ISIS-K fighters; this tally includes foreign fighters and four ISIS-K commanders. The Defense Ministry also stated that no civilians were killed during the bombing.
