Developed in-house by the Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, the MOAB is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever used in combat by the United States.
As many as 36 suspected Islamic State militants were killed in the strike on Thursday evening in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghan defence officials said, adding there were no civilian casualties.
The top USA military commander in Afghanistan said on Friday that the decision to deploy one of the largest conventional bombs ever used in combat was purely tactical, and made as part of the campaign against Islamic State-linked fighters.
Pakistani villagers living near the Afghan border said the explosion was so loud they thought a bomb had been dropped in their village by USA warplanes targeting terrorists in Pakistan.
Some Afghans remain deeply suspicious of Washington's motives in sending troops to the country more than 15 years ago, and view their ongoing presence as a form of occupation.
The US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission.
"We had persistent surveillance over the area before, during and after the operation, and now we have Afghan and USA forces on the site, and see no evidence of civilian casualties", Nicholson said.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement that the bomb destroyed several IS caves and ammunition caches.
USA army general John Nicholson, the commander of American forces in the country, said IS were using bombs, bunkers and tunnels to "thicken their defence".
The 21,000-pound GBU-43B, or massive ordnance air blast weapon, unleashed 11 tons of explosives.
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The YouTube video shows the actual footage of the strike, offering a glimpse of the destructive power of the bomb.
Shinwari described a litany of abuses he said were committed by Islamic State fighters.
But Gen. Daulat Waziri, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Defense, said 36 IS fighters were killed, and that the death toll could likely rise.
Those troops are separate to a wider NATO-led effort to train, advise and assist the Afghan army and police force.
The US military headquarters in Kabul said the bomb was dropped at about 7.30pm local time on a tunnel complex in Nangarhar province, where the Afghan affiliate of IS has been operating.
Pakistani villagers living near the Afghan border said the explosion was so loud they thought a bomb had been dropped in their village by USA warplanes targeting terrorists in Pakistan.
A local resident living within two miles of the explosion told CNN that he heard an "extremely loud boom that smashed the windows of our house".
Dozens of other villagers also came out of their homes, Wali said.
"We were unable to see each other at home because of the excessive dust inside the room", he said.
Mufti Khan, a resident of Achin in Nangarhar, said: "The whole house was shaking".
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