"This was the right weapon against the right target", U.S. Army Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr. said, the morning after the U.S. dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat on an ISIS underground complex in Afghanistan.
Trump called Thursday's operation a "very, very successful mission".
More than 9m (30 ft) in length, it was first tested in 2003 but had not been deployed in combat before. It is regarded as particularly effective against clusters of targets on or just underneath the ground.
It was the first time the United States has used this size of a bomb in a conflict. It was originally designed as much to intimidate foes as to clear broad areas. That apparently reflects President Donald Trump's vow for a more aggressive campaign against the group. He flexed USA military muscles last week by ordering a cruise missile attack on a Syrian government airbase in retaliation for a poison gas attack.
Al Jazeera's Whitney Hurst reports.
The US estimates 600 to 800 IS fighters are present in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar.
So far, Trump has offered little clarity about a broader strategy for Afghanistan, where some 8,400 US troops remain.
The Massive Ordnance Air Blast - a 20,000-pound weapon dubbed the "mother of all bombs" - shot flames and smoke into the sky for more than four hours and marked a sharp escalation of US operations against Islamic State's affiliate in South Asia.
In its second major display of military might in one week, the USA dropped its most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS positions in a remote part of Afghanistan.
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Dao wants the world to know that they are very appreciative of the outpouring of prayers, concern and support they have received'. By Tuesday afternoon, nearly two days after the Sunday evening events, Munoz issued another apology.
Pentagon officials described it as the "mother of all bombs".
Afghan soldiers and police, with the aid of thousands of foreign military advisers, are struggling to hold off a resurgent insurgency led by the Taliban, as well as other groups like Islamic State.
"We were unable to see each other at home because of the excessive dust inside the room", he said. The statement said it is the responsibility of Afghans to remove the Islamic State group from the country not the U.S.
"This is not the war on terror, but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and risky weapons", Karzai said on Twitter.
The general said that because the spring offensive against ISIS-K had been slowed by fighters using caves and tunnels, "It was the right time to use it tactically, against the right target on the battlefield".
But Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a Democrat who was the only "no" vote for authorization for use of military force in Afghanistan in 2001, said the move was unprecedented and asked for an explanation.
While Trump's newfound interventionist attitude was welcomed by hawks in his own party and even some opposition figures, Democrat Representative Jackie Speier voiced concerns over increasing United States military involvement in Afghanistan following Thursday's bombing. American and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban insurgency for more than 15 years.
Afghan officials said 36 militants were killed in the strike in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border. The strike reportedly killed 36 ISIS fighters.
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