Karzai strongly condemns US dropping of huge bomb in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s ex-President Hamid Karzai has blasted the US for dropping its largest non-nuclear bomb in the Asian country, alleging that the US is using his country as a “testing ground” for its new weapons.

“I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear #bomb, on Afghanistan by US military,” Karzai wrote on Twitter on Thursday, referring to the strike that was carried out earlier in the day.

According to Press TV, Karzai, who became Afghanistan’s first president under an agreement largely negotiated by Western countries after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, further called on his country to “stop” the US.

“This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the #USA.”

Earlier on Thursday, the US Forces in Afghanistan (USFOR-A) announced that it had “conducted a strike on a Daesh-K tunnel complex in Achin district, Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, as part of ongoing efforts to defeat Daesh-K in Afghanistan in 2017.”

The military statement said a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb had been dropped from a US aircraft in the strike. The statement also claimed that US forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike, without elaborating.

Afghan officials said on Friday that the US strike had killed at least 36 suspected Daesh terrorists, smashing a deep tunnel complex in the area. They said no civilian casualties had been caused.

“As a result of the bombing, key Daesh hideouts and a deep tunnel complex were destroyed and 36 fighters were killed,” Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, described the bombing as “very, very successful.”

The Afghan presidential palace also claimed that precautions had been taken to avoid civilian casualties.

ME