Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that he was “pleased” the U.S. dropped a massive non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan.
Graham used the strike, which targeted the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to argue that “there’s a new sheriff in town.”
The Pentagon announced earlier Thursday that it had used the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) for the first time in combat.
{mosads}The MOAB is one of the most powerful non-nuclear bombs in the U.S. military’s arsenal and is the most devastating bomb it has used in Afghanistan.
President Trump on Thursday lauded the strike in Afghanistan but declined to say whether he approved the operation, saying only that he had authorized the military in general to use such munitions.
“We have [an] incredible military,” he said. “We are very proud of them and this was another very, very successful mission.
“We have the greatest military in the world and they’ve done a job as usual, so we have given them total authorization. And that’s what they’re doing.”
An Air Force Special Operations Command aircraft reportedly dropped the weapon in the Anchin district in Nangarhar province following an order from Army Gen. John Nicholson.
A Pentagon official said Nicholson didn’t need Trump to directly authorize him to use the explosive, which boasts a blast radius of 1 mile.
Trump vowed to hammer ISIS during last year’s presidential campaign, pledging he would “bomb the s—” out of the terrorist group if elected president.