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


Thursday, October 18, 2012

War News for Thursday, October 18, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, October 18th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Two militants were killed in the Khyber Agency when security forces pounded the militants’ hideouts in Tirah Valley, Geo News reported Thursday. According to official sources, the militants’ compounds were bombarded with the warplanes in Aka Khel area of Tirah Valley. As a result, two militants were killed while the operation is continuing in the area.

At least eight militants were killed, seven others injured and four militant hideouts destroyed when the Pakistani military launched an air strike over militant hides in the country's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency, reported local TV on Thursday. According to the local state-run TV channel PTV, the Pakistani army launched a strike over militant hideouts in the Bara area of Khyber Agency early on Thursday morning. Gunship helicopters and fighter jets were reportedly used in the operation.

#2: Two Taliban militants were killed as their mine exploded prematurely in Helmand province 555 km south of capital city Kabul on Thursday, police spokesman in the province said. “Two Taliban terrorists who were attempting to plant a mine on a road outside provincial capital Lashkar Gah early this morning, but the device exploded pre-maturely killing both on the spot,” Farid Ahmad Farhang told Xinhua.

#3: Two members of the Montana Army National Guard’s 484th Military Police Company have been injured in an explosion, according to Maj. Tim Crowe. The explosion happened Saturday. He would not say whether the incident was caused by an improvised explosive device. He would only say it was an explosion that occurred in the course of the soldiers doing their jobs.

#4: A man riding a donkey was killed in a roadside bombing in the Falkah village of Kishk-i-Kohna district of Herat Tuesday night, the provincial police spokesman said. In neighbouring Farah province, two men were killed when the car they were travelling in struck a roadside bomb in Pusht-i-Rod district, a police official said. Col. Abdul Rauf Ahmadi said one man was killed and another wounded in a similar blast in the Takht valley of Ghor province.

#5: Units of Afghan police have killed two Taliban militants and arrested nine others over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Thursday. The police personnel, according to the statement have also discovered a number of arms and ammunitions including assault rifles from the militants during the operations, conducted in Kapisa, kandahar and Paktia provinces.

#6: At least four mortar shells were fired across the border from Afghanistan on Wednesday, injuring three people in Pakistan’s troubled tribal region of North Waziristan, Pakistani security officials said. The officials further added a man and two women of the same family were injured when a rocket fired from Afghanistan fell on a house in North Waziristan. This comes as local officials in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan on Wednesday announced at least 38 shells were fired in Dangam disrict. Provincial governor spokesman Wasifullah Wasifi said at least 3 civilians were injured following the shelling.

Posted by whisker at 4:28 AM

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