Afghans Respond to U.S. Dropping Its Biggest Non-Nuclear Bomb

In Afghanistan on Thursday, the United States military dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever — the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, nicknamed "The Mother of All Bombs." The 21,600-pound bomb reportedly unleashed an explosion equivalent to 11 tons of TNT with a mile-wide blast radius. This comes as the United Nations recently published a report saying airstrikes from the Afghan government forces and the U.S.-led coalition killed nearly 600 civilians in 2016 — almost twice as many than in 2015. The U.S. war in Afghanistan is the longest war in U.S. history, extending into its 16th year.

Our guests in Kabul say civilians there are asking if any mother would conduct such an attack. Basir Bita is a mentor with Afghan Youth Peace Volunteers, and Dr. Hakim is a medical doctor who has provided humanitarian relief in Afghanistan for over a decade. He works with Afghan Peace Volunteers, an inter-ethnic group of young Afghans dedicated to building nonviolent alternatives to war. We are also joined by Kathy Kelly of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, who is just back from Afghanistan, and Wazhmah Osman, professor of media and communication at Temple University and member of the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association.