Afghan activist Mohammad Moradi says technical evidence and Saudi Arabia’s arms procurement record suggest that a U.S.-made MK-82 bomb used in a Pakistani military airstrike in Kunar, which killed three Afghan civilians, was “most likely” supplied to Islamabad from Saudi stockpiles with U.S. approval.
As reported by IRAF, an examination of remnants of the munitions used in a Pakistani airstrike on parts of Kunar province two nights ago indicates that the bomb was an MK-82 manufactured by U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin, one of the country’s major arms producers and a key supplier to Saudi Arabia.
According to Moradi, the number “147214” stamped on the recovered fragment is directly associated with the company.
Citing Saudi Arabia’s extensive arms purchases from the United States, Moradi said Riyadh’s weapons imports increased significantly after the start of the war in Yemen. He also referred to a $143 billion agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year as part of the same trend.
He said the MK-82 was among the most widely used weapons in Saudi Arabia’s arsenal because it “was designed for mountainous and rural areas and operates in a wave-like manner,” a feature that made it one of Saudi Arabia’s main weapons in the Yemen war.
Moradi, citing a recent BBC report based on CNN, said Saudi Arabia used the same type of bomb in 2018 in an attack that killed 40 Yemeni children.
He also noted that former U.S. President Barack Obama had banned the sale of such weapons to Saudi Arabia, but Donald Trump lifted the restriction during the first months of his presidency, while the U.S. State Department, under then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, authorized the resumption of sales of the bombs.
Referring to the suspension of U.S.-Pakistan military cooperation over the past decade, Moradi said: “It cannot be said with certainty that the United States directly gave this bomb to Pakistan, but given Saudi Arabia’s huge stockpiles and its daily use of the bomb in Yemen, as well as two defense agreements between Riyadh and Islamabad in 2025 and 2026, it is almost certain that this bomb reached Pakistan through Saudi Arabia.”
Moradi concluded: “This is how, apart from the indirect role of the United States in the bombing of Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia’s footprint can also be seen in the killing of civilians.”
Taliban Officials Question Pakistani Airstrike
Taliban officials have also issued strong reactions in recent days to Pakistan’s attacks.
Saeed Khosti, head of the Department for the Registration of Jihadi Works and Documents at the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, questioned the objectives and execution of the latest attack in a post on X, alongside an image of one of the victims.
Referring to the use of a U.S.-made GBU-12 guided bomb in the attack, Khosti asked Pakistani officials: “Were these the planners of the Kohat attack? Do you take revenge for the killing of your military personnel by killing such people?”
He added: “I wish you would not kill Muslims with American bombs.”
