Did the US lose a crucial testing ground when it left Afghanistan?

THE ADVANTAGES OF UAVS ARE RENDERED USELESS IN THE CONTEXT OF AN ENEMY THAT CAN CUT THE LINK BETWEEN OPERATOR AND AIRCRAFT.

FOURTEEN YEARS AFTER DUBBING ITS F most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever developed 'the Mother of All Bombs' (MOAB), the US military finally found an opportunity to test the ordnance on the battlefield. In April 2017, intelligence officials had located a large cell of Islamic State Khorasan, the terrorist group also known as ISIS-K, hiding in a cave complex in Nangarhar province on the border with Pakistan.

The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, to use its official name, had shown promise during demonstrations in testing grounds, such as Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, since its unveiling in 2003. But the Pentagon had never deployed it in actual battle, over concerns about civilian casualties. This cell, however, was believed to be remote enough for a Moab deployment.

According to the initial assessment by the Afghan Ministry of Defense and local media reports, the surprise blast swept through the caves with ease, causing at least 36 casualties, without harming any known civilians. (The US government never publicly released its own damage assessment.) For the Pentagon, this was more than a strike against terrorists: It served to demonstrate the feasibility of its newly developed weapons systems.