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


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

News of the Day for Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Man in Afghan police uniform kills 3 ISAF troops in Southern Afghanistan on Monday. The shooter is now identified as Ziarahman, who had been in the Afghan police for nine months, and the dead as members of the Welsh Guard. The shooter is in custody.

Gunmen torch a girls' school in Herat.

Car bomb attack near Kandahar university kills 7, injures 23.

Three killed in an explosion in Kabul which appears to be accidental. Twenty-eight are injured, 5 critically. The incident is attributed to a gas leak but sabotage has not been ruled out.

An Australian special forces soldier is killed by gunfire in Uruzgan.

Tensions are rising between Afghanistan and Pakistan over border incidents.

Afghan lawmakers visiting California say Afghanistan is not ready for self-government and that they are concerned about a premature exit of international forces. Excerpt:

[Parliamentarian Baktash] Siawash said Monday that too much power is concentrated in the hands of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and 21 powerful families. "Our president's ignoring the lawmakers who represent the people who don't have water, roads or clinics," Siawash said.
Billions of dollars in U.S. aid are winding up in the hands of corrupt officials in government and the nonprofit sector, Siawash said. "I told Sen. McCain, 'You're wasting your time and your money. Why don't you hold the Afghan government accountable and put an end to the corruption?' "

A report by an international human rights group finds violence against women in Afghanistan is endemic. "Attacks on women are mounting. Those that ActionAid works with tell us they leave their homes every morning not knowing if they will return alive in the evening."

An ethnographic atlas published by the Afghan Academy of Science insults the Hazara minority. "The resulting outcry from Hazara politicians was enough to prompt President Hamid Karzai to step in. In mid-June, Karzai banned the atlas, dismissed four academics from the Academy of Sciences, and ordered an investigation into their reasons for publishing the comments. The four now face possible criminal charges for stoking ethnic tensions, pending the findings of a lengthy questionnaire they have been asked to fill out."

ExxonMobil has told Afghanistan's Ministry of Mines it is interested in bidding on the right to explore for oil and gas in the country.  (Good luck with that. -- C)

Human Rights Watch sees media freedom in Afghanistan threatened by a draft law aimed at placating Muslim conservatives.

Hoping Whisker will be back on-line soon. -- C


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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/07/03/154815/afghanistan-isnt-ready-to-govern.html#storylink=cpy




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