Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
AT News
KABUL: A public representative at Wolesi Jirga has alleged that America’s dropping of the “mother of all bombs” in Achin district of eastern Nangarhar more than two years ago have harmed people’s health and affected crops. However, the government has assured of assigning a delegation to investigate the claims.
In April 2017, US Forces dropped a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) reportedly on a Daesh stronghold of caves and tunnels in eastern Nangarhar province.
However, Lawmaker Nilofer Ibrahimi alleged that the massive non-nuclear bomb had caused health issues in its aftermath because many skin-related diseases had broken out in the region. “People are suffering and are in the worst situation as most of them have skin issues such as leprosy and vitiligo.”
Moreover, she said agricultural lands were not yielding crops in the district and the fetus of mothers in the area had also been negatively affected.
While expressing grave concern in this regard, Ibrahimi accused the Afghan government of being indifferent concerning the fate and live of Afghan citizens.
She asked the members of parliament to form up a delegation which should be dispatched to the area in order to inspect the claims regarding the impacts of the bomb on human life in Achin.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health (MoH) has said it will investigate the claims and will send researchers and doctors to the bombing site and to hospitals in Jalalabad, the provincial capital of Nangarhar.
The issue was brought to the fore by a Tolo News report this week which featured Mohmand Dara villagers voicing their health-related concerns. The TV station revealed that according to experts, anyone within 300 meters of the explosion would have been evaporated, while those in a 1 km radius from ground zero would have been rendered deaf.
The US target had been described as a Daesh hideout in the Mohmand Dara area of Achin district but the bombing was criticized by many Afghans then, including former President Hamid Karzai, who accused Washington of treating Afghanistan as a testing ground for its weapons.
