The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Wednesday, January 25, 2012

War News for Wednesday, January 25, 2011

The British MoD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from unreported causes at a patrol base in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, January 24th. News reports this as a possible suicide. Here’s the ISAF release.

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, January 25th.


France Rules Out Early Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan

North Fayette man killed in Afghanistan helicopter accident - James Scott Ozier, 30, was one of three employees of Palm Bay, Fla.-based AAR Airlift Group who died on Jan. 16 while conducting operations for the U.S. Department of Defense in Helmand Province.

British soldier in 'suicide' in Afghanistan

US drone attacks unlawful and unacceptable: Salman Bashir

East Afghan frontline emerges as major hurdle


Reported security incidents
#1:
SIX Pakistani soldiers and 17 Taliban militants have been killed in an overnight clash in a northwestern tribal district near the Afghan border. Some 50 Taliban fighters attacked Pakistani troops during a search operation in Jogi village of central Kurram tribal district late yesterday, officials said. "Six soldiers were killed and four injured in the clash. Troops repelled the attack and killed 17 militants," Sher Bahadar Khan, a local government official in Kurram told AFP. The militants were Pakistani Taliban, he said. A senior official of Pakistan's paramilitary Frontier Corps confirmed the attack, and the casualties, and added that troops had taken control of the area. Independent confirmation of the death toll was not immediately possible as the lawless tribal region is barred for journalists .

#2: An Estonian soldier was seriously wounded in an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday. Yesterday morning, insurgents attacked an Estonian infantry squad that was patrolling near Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province. One soldier was struck by an improvised explosive device.

#3: At least five insurgents have been killed as Afghan forces and NATO-led Coalition troops conducted operations in eastern Afghanistan region, the NATO-led forces said on Tuesday. “Afghan and Coalition Forces killed five insurgents and detained eight suspected individuals in eastern Afghanistan during operations throughout the past 24 hours, Jan. 23,” the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a press release. “A coalition airstrike killed five insurgents after troops positively identified them with weapons in Tagab District, Kapisa Province,” it said. Afghan National Police (ANP) detained four individuals in Mehtarlam District, Laghman Province after a small-arms fire engagement.

#4: Several insurgents were killed during a combined Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) operation in search of a Taliban leader in Kot district, Faryab province on Wednesday, the coalition said in a statement.

#5: Two civilians were killed and seven others were injured Wednesday when two rockets fired by suspected Taliban insurgents hit a house in the country's Kapisa province.


DoD: Cpl. Christopher G. Singer

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