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


Sunday, August 12, 2012

News of the Day for Sunday, August 12, 2012

Roadside bomb in Gardez, Paktia province kills 4 police, injures 2.

Governor of Alisheing district, Lagham province, is killed along with 3 bodyguards  by a roadside bomb. Governor Faridullah Neyazi was on his way to a meeting.

Afghan National Directorate for Security claims to have foiled an attack on the parliament and a second vice president, planned in part by a Pakistani militant. The plotters were said to be in possession of a large cache of weapons, and Afghan army uniforms.

Reuters reports that Afghan officials have met with Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who is in detention in Pakistan. This may signal a renewal of peace talks, and that Pakistan is willing to support negotiations.

Eleven Afghan police officers are slain in Nimroz province, apparently by a colleague who was a Taliban infiltrator.


Army Sgt. Major Gregory R. Trent of Norton, MA, dies of injuries suffered on July 31 in Shindand Province. He was a Special Forces intelligence sergeant, assigned to Company B, 4th Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The Baltimore Sun gives a count of ISAF deaths  since the intervention began. Remember when everybody used to count the U.S. dead in Iraq? Nobody seems to care about Afghanistan, but for the record, the total of U.S. military dead in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led military intervention began in 2001 now stands at 2,088. Britain again has the second highest number of dead, 424.



Posted by Cervantes at 5:09 AM

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