MIDDLESEX TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A non-nuclear bomb dropped by the U.S. military on Afghanistan aimed at an ISIS cave and tunnel complex.
Dr. Larry Goodson, a professor Middle East studies at the U.S. Army War College in Cumberland County, thinks this move by the U.S. will be viewed favorably by Afghans.
"There's not a great deal of warmth or welcome among the Afghans for these outsiders from the Arab world and other places that have come in there under the black flag of ISIS," Goodson said.
Dr. Conrad Crane, the chief of historical services at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, said the use of bombs to collapse structures in battle has been used before.
Crane said, "This particular bomb yes, this is the first time this particular bomb has been used."
But he adds similar types of bombs have been used since World War II that would penetrate the ground and explode. The bomb used Thursday was designed differently.
Crane said, "It's designed to explode above the ground, and overpressure would collapse the structures they were aimed at."
He said this Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb targeted a remote area and was pushed out of a MC-130.
"It's kind of crude the way we drop them, but obviously the impact is pretty impressive," Crane said.
Goodson said the U.S. has had troops on the grounds in Afghanistan for years and doesn't expect that to change any time soon.
"It's a tough situation. It means that people like the students at this War College are going to be deployed out there probably into the indefinite future," Goodson said.
With the outlook of this war being a little murky to some, the professor is hoping for some clarity and conclusion.
"I'm frustrated like everyone else that we can't seem to achieve the objectives that we hope to achieve there in a way that brings it to a neat close," Goodson said.