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Charlotte Muslims worry about innocent lives impacted by U.S. strike

By Mark Barber
By Mark Barber

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte’s Muslim community is worried that civilians in Afghanistan took a direct hit Thursday when the massive ordnance air blast weapon unleashed 11 tons of explosives on an ISIS complex.

[RELATED: Government: 36 Islamic State fighters killed by massive bomb]

The enormous 22,000-pound bomb only killed members of ISIS who were working on a network of tunnels and caves in eastern Afghanistan, according to Afghan officials.

(Click PLAY to watch full video of U.S. MOAB strike)

But Imam Atif Chaudhry of the Islamic Center of Great Charlotte is concerned that innocent mothers and children were hurt in the blast radius, which wiped out everything within a mile.

“We have no sympathy for ISIS or anyone that uses violence or extremism or a dangerous rhetoric to cause chaos in the world,” Chaudhry said. “We’re talking about the loss of innocent civilian life and not giving it value that would otherwise be given if it were any other part of the world.”

But Steve Cole, a retired Army Lt. Colonel who worked for NATO for two years in Kabul, Afghanistan, believes that the military strike could mean progress for people in the country.

[Expert: Major bomb strike in Afghanistan sends loud message to ISIS]

“The insurgents come in and they take over these towns and they’re unable to send their girls to school; they’re unable to live their lives as they would choose to do,” Cole said.

He said when ISIS moved into bunkers and caves, civilians fled to safety. He believes the enormous bomb has cleared a way for those families to return to safety.

“They returned 400 kilometers of territory back to Afghan people, taken from insurgent control,” Cole said.

The U.S. government said it has not found any evidence of civilian casualties.

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