Produced in 2003 the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), commonly known as the Mother of All Bombs was sitting idle in the Pentagon's armoury, waiting for someone who would order its use. That someone is Donald Trump the Americans have elected as their president; and as the commander-in-chief he has the due authority to order bombing of adversaries with this most destructive non-nuclear weapon. The American force in Afghanistan was struggling to reach the hideouts of the Islamic State's militants. Keeping the government in Kabul "in the loop", the US dropped the MOAB on Thursday evening, hitting IS positions in remote areas of Nangarhar province. The bomb is said to have killed nearly 100 IS fighters. The strength of the IS fighters of the outfit's Khorasan affiliate, which is active in Pakistan also, in the region is said to be between 600 to 800. To some, this may be a significant victory, but many in the region would insist that the MOAB may or may not have forced them out of the caves and channels, but this would certainly sharpen their appetite for more violence. And if the bombing is welcomed by the Afghans there is a bit of debate also as former President Hamid Karzai argues that the US has used the Afghan soil as "testing ground" while his successor President Ashraf Ghani says the action enjoys his approval. And then there is also a question whether or not President Trump ordered deployment of MOAB - because, as usual, he only said "What I do is I authorize my military ....[this was)]very, very successful mission." He is said to have been quite ambivalent about American involvement in Afghanistan; in fact he had branded it as a "mistake", and during his electoral campaign he wanted the United States to act as an isolationist, away from the international disputes and wars.

Now when bombing Islamic State hideouts in Afghanistan with most destructive conventional weapon is his third major military action after a massive military raid in Yemen and a missile strike against the Syrian airbase allegedly used for the chemical weapons attack on a rebel-held town the question is: Is it some kind of a message to North Korean leadership. Is it then President Trump's so-called "new found interventionist attitude"? Is the United States ready to carry out a pre-emptive strike - possibly with this monster of a bomb - against North Korea? Of course, a part of the American media is in a frenzy now that President Trump has "shown his backbone let MOAB do the talking." But in reality, this is an unwarranted escalation. The Trump administration must give a second thought to its strategy of seeking solutions to international problems through the barrel of gun.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2017