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Last week, the United States dropped what the military is calling the mother of all bombs on ISIS targets in Afghanistan.

We caught up with Sen. Susan Collins Wednesday who says the military response was appropriate.

It appears that very large bomb that was dropped in Afghanistan did take out a whole network of caves that Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists were using to disrupt the government in Afghanistan, to terrorize the population, and to put our remaining troops in jeopardy, she said.

We also spoke to Sen. King, who is delivering a lecture at Colby College Wednesday on U.S. foreign policy.

Sen. King told us, No war has ever been won by air power alone. Weve got to be careful that we cant rely on that because one of the problems is collateral damage. If you kill five terrorists, but twenty civilians, you may have created another 20 or 30 terrorists. So thats a calculation that we really have to make. We cant not defend our vital interests, but we also have to be understanding what the long term implications are in terms of our ability to deal with terrorism, to deal with rogue states like Iran and like North Korea.

The senator says he has not yet received a full intelligence report of what was achieved with the recent bombing in Afghanistan.

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Senators Collins and King Comment on Bombing Afghanistan - WABI

New York Times

In Afghanistan, 'I Feel Like a Divorced Woman Is Up for Grabs' New York Times As women in Afghanistan, particularly in urban centers, have increasingly asserted their rights over the past 15 years, many husbands have not caught up or never get on board with the changes. The slow pace of shedding entrenched misogyny has led to a ...

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In Afghanistan, 'I Feel Like a Divorced Woman Is Up for Grabs' - New York Times

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Denmark 'to deport 70-year-old woman with dementia to Afghanistan' - The Independent

The U.S. militarys dropping of its most powerful non-nuclear bomb on ISIS positions in Afghanistan last week was the correct action to take, said U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, who was in the Middle East at the time of the strike.

Gen. John Nicholson made the decision tactically that was the best ammunition to utilize, Stefanik said in a telephone interview on Monday about a congressional delegation she led to the Middle East last week.

Stefanik said she learned about the attack the next day.

I learned about it on the news as I was in Kuwait, she said.

Stefanik and the delegation of House Defense Committee members had met Nicholson, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the previous day.

Nicholson did not inform them of the pending attack, but briefed them on the challenges of terrorists operating from underground tunnels and caves in the eastern section of Afghanistan.

We were not given any specific information about the MOAB, Stefanik said, referring to the acronym for the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb.

The GPS-guided bomb is also commonly known as the Mother of All Bombs.

Stefanik said rank-and-file military personnel she spoke with after the strike seemed supportive of it.

Much of the discussion was the fact that there are over 20 organizations who were making inroads in that region of Afghanistan, and Afghan forces are continuing to work to take back those regions, she said. Its of concern to me that Afghanistan is still the country with the highest number of terrorist organizations around the world. And I believe that it is our role to continue to work with the Afghans in a support and advise and assist role.

Stefanik led the delegation in her new role as chairwoman of the House Defense Committee Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities.

Reps. Tom Suozzi, D-Long Island, Anthony Brown, D-Md., and Keith Roffus, R-Pa., were also part of the delegation.

I thought it was an important opportunity for some of the newer members who are on my subcommittee to get an assessment of what is happening on the ground, she said.

The six-day trip included visits to three regions of Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan.

In Kuwait, the delegation met with the Marine Corps unit focused on countering terrorism in Iraq and Syria, Stefanik said.

They also visited U.S. military units in various locations of the four countries.

I had the opportunity to visit and have lunches and dinners with numerous constituents from South Glens Falls, from Saratoga, from Saranac Lake, from Massena, from all over the district, she said. One of the biggest takeaways is the professionalism and the extensive service and sense of mission of the men and women in uniform.

Follow staff writer Maury Thompson at All Politics is Local blog, at PS_Politics on Twitter and at Maury Thompson Post-Star on Facebook.

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Stefanik, back from Afghanistan, supports MOAB strike - Glens Falls Post-Star

(KABUL, Afghanistan) Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday that the U.S. is using Afghanistan as a weapons testing ground, calling the recent use of the largest-ever non-nuclear bomb "an immense atrocity against the Afghan people."

Last week, U.S. forces dropped the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb in eastern Nangarhar province, reportedly killing 95 militants. Karzai, in an interview with The Associated Press, objected to the decision, saying that his country "was used very disrespectfully by the U.S. to test its weapons of mass destruction."

The office of President Ashraf Ghani said following the bomb's usage that there was "close coordination" between the U.S. military and the Afghan government over the operation, and they were careful to prevent any civilian casualties.

But Karzai harshly criticized the Afghan government for allowing the use of the bomb.

"How could a government of a country allow the use of a weapon of mass destruction on its own territory? Whatever the reason, whatever the cause, how could they allow that? It just unimaginable," he said.

The strike was carried out Thursday morning against an Islamic State group tunnel complex, carved into a mountain that Afghan forces had tried to assault repeatedly in recent weeks, according to Afghan officials.

U.S. and Afghan forces have been battling the Taliban for more than 15 years. But the U.S. military unveiled the largest conventional bomb in its arsenal against the Islamic State group, which has a far smaller but growing presence in Afghanistan. U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly vowed to aggressively confront IS.

Trump called the operation a "very, very successful mission" but Karzai had harsh words for the new U.S. leader.

"My message to President Trump today is that he has committed an immense atrocity against the Afghan people, against fellow human beings," he said. "If the American government sees us as human beings, then they have committed a crime against fellow human beings, but if they treat us as less than human beings, well, of course they can do whatever they want."

Karzai added that one of the fundamental reasons that he refused to sign the bilateral security agreement with the United States when he was the president was specifically to prevent such actions.

"I told the people of Afghanistan in the Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) we must not sign the BSA with the U.S., that we must not give them bases till the day they bring peace to Afghanistan," he said. "Why would the Afghan people want to give the U.S. bases? For what? To continue the war in Afghanistan, to become more insecure, to lose peace forever, to suffer, to receive more bombs, to receive a weapon of mass destruction? Or for security, for peace and for a better life?"

The U.S. National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster met with President Ghani during a visit to Afghanistan on Sunday. According to statement from the office of the president, the pair discussed mutual counterterrorism efforts, security and economic development.

The U.S. estimates 600-800 IS fighters are in Afghanistan, mostly in Nangarhar. American forces have concentrated on fighting them while also supporting Afghan forces against the Taliban. The U.S. has more than 8,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan, training local forces and conducting counterterrorism operations.

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The Former President of Afghanistan Called the Recent US Bombing 'an Immense Atrocity' - TIME