HR McMaster visits Afghanistan after MOAB attack

US President Donald Trump's national security adviser has met Afghan officials in Kabul, just days after the US dropped the "mother of all bombs" on suspected ISIL fighters in the country's east.

Afghan Voice Agency(AVA),General HR McMaster, the first high-level US official to visit the country since Trump took office, held meetings on Sunday with President Ashraf Ghani; Hanif Atmar, national security adviser; and other high-level Afghan officials to discuss "joint efforts to counter terrorist groups", according to a statement released by the US embassy.

For its part, the Afghan presidential palace said via Twitter that the two sides discussed "bilateral ties, security, counter-terrorism and development".
Mixed reaction in Afghanistan over Nangarhar bombing

Speaking to ABC News from Afghanistan, McMaster said the Trump administration is weighing diplomatic, military and economic responses to the Taliban and ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, in Afghanistan.

"Our enemy sensed that and they have redoubled their efforts and it's time for us, alongside our Afghan partners, to respond," said McMaster.

The visit comes just days after the US dropped the GBU-۴۳ Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, one of the largest conventional weapons ever used in combat nicknamed the "mother of all bombs", during an operation against ISIL, also known as ISIS, in the Achin district of Nangarhar province.

While military officials say the strike was based solely on tactical needs, it has led to speculation that Trump's defence advisers are planning to escalate the war against armed anti-government groups in Afghanistan.

In a sharp warning to the US administration, Hamid Karzai, the former Afghan president, has called the bombing an "inhuman act, a brutal act against an innocent country".