"Laser weapons and laser-guided bombs are of great importance when fighting terrorists, and now this new technology is in the hands of Afghanistan. This assistance is provided by our colleagues from other countries and we hope they will continue to do so," General Mohammad Radmanesh, spokesman for the Afghan army, pointed out.
He noted that the use of such bombs will add to the accuracy of guidance, which will hopefully help the army reduce civilian losses during airstrikes.
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Radmanesh explained that laser-guided bombs hit the target with a high degree of accuracy because they are controlled by sophisticated electronic equipment installed in aircraft.
He said that the Afghan Air Force had already used these bombs during three airstrikes, which, in particular, added to destroying several Taliban leaders in the country's western Farah province.
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Radmanesh has rejected speculation on the bomb's harmful effect on human health due to alleged laser radiation.
"These bombs are guided by laser beams which have no impact on the terrain. We don't speak about the rays that ignite and leave chemical and biological particles, destroying a target. We speak about the beams which bring a bomb to the target and which are controlled directly from the cockpit," he underlined.
In early February, General James Hecker, commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force in Afghanistan, said that three Afghan A-29 Super Tucano attack plane pilots "are now trained to drop laser-guided munitions."
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For years, Afghanistan has been hit by political, social and security-related instability because of the simmering insurgency. The Taliban* and Daesh* conducted numerous attacks against both civilian and military targets.
The US and the Kabul government have been fighting a war with the Taliban since 2001. Before that, the country faced nearly two decades of civil war, remaining divided into several warlord-controlled regions throughout much of the 1990s.
*Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/Islamic State), Taliban, terrorist groups banned in Russia
