In April 2017, U.S. forces dropped one of the largest non-nuclear bombs on an ISIS cave complex in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Dubbed the ‘mother of all bombs’ it killed dozens of fighters.
Former U.S. Afghanistan commander Gen. John Nicholson’s decision to unleash such an immense display of American air power against a militant group that at the time was estimated to number less than 1,000 fighters was highly criticized.
But, despite years of American bombardment and hundreds of counterterrorism operations launched against the militant group largely cornered in remote pockets of Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, ISIS fighters in Afghanistan number in the thousands while maintaining the ability to launch deadly high profile attacks across the country.