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, March 7, 2012

War News for Wednesday, March 07, 2012

The British MoD is reporting that six British ISAF soldiers are missing and presumed dead after a roadside bombing in an undisclosed area in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, March 6th. Here's the ISAF statement.


Seven Polish soldiers to take stand for attack on Afghan village

Afghan avalanche kills 47


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle exploded at a market in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing four people, officials said. All those killed in the midday blast in Spin Boldak, on the Pakistani border, were civilians, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial government. Eight people were wounded in the explosion, including one border police officer, he said.

#2: Afghan and foreign troops killed four insurgents during joint operations in several parts of the country in the last 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

#3: Four insurgents were killed by a NATO air strike in the eastern Kunar province when they attempted to attack a prison in Asadabad district, police said. A 12-year-old child was also killed by insurgents' gunfire, added Kunar police chief Ewaz Mohammad Naziri.

#4: A roadside mine killed two civilians in Kunar's Manogai district, police chief Naziri said.

#5: Seventeen militants, six of them foreigners, were killed and 12 others wounded in clashes with security forces in the mountainous region of Upper Orakzai, a military official said. The official said an unknown number of troops were also injured or killed, but he didn't provide any further information.

#6: A homemade bomb planted under a car exploded in the town of Badaber on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing one person and wounding four others, police officials said.

#7: A homemade bomb exploded in the Takht-e-Bahi area of the northwestern Mardan district, damaging 22 shops, police officials said.

#8: A homemade bomb exploded on the outskirts of the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, wounding two children, police officials said. Another bomb planted nearby was defused by the police. Dera Ismail Khan is near Pakistan's unruly northwestern tribal areas that lie along the border with Afghanistan, where several militant groups have strongholds.

#9: One Pakistan Army soldier was killed and two wounded when a homemade bomb exploded while they were on patrol in the Mohmand tribal region, security officials said.

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