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


Friday, December 14, 2012

War News for Friday, December 14, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, December 14th. News reports that a suicide car bomber rammed a NATO convoy outside a base in Khandar province on Thursday night killing between one and three Americans and killing and wounding multiple Afghani’s.


Reported security incidents
#1: A US soldier has been killed in a suicide bomb attack at a Nato airbase outside the Afghan city of Kandahar. Two Afghan civilians also died in the blast and more than 10 other people, including three US soldiers, were wounded. Local police officers said a car packed with explosives was detonated beside Nato vehicles entering the base.

#2: One insurgent has been killed and six insurgents detained in different operations in eastern Afghan provinces, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Friday. "Afghan and coalition forces killed one insurgent, detained six, and cleared one improvised explosive device (IED) during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East (RC-East) said in a statement. The Afghan National Army soldiers killed one insurgent during an engagement in Bar Kunar (Asmar) District in eastern Kunar province 185 km east of Kabul, the statement said. The captured militants were detained by the Afghan and coalition forces following an engagement in Bati Kot District, Nangarhar province,120 km east of Kabul, it said, adding that the detained suspects were transferred to a base for questioning.
#3: Eight persons including a security man were wounded when a blast occurred at Sariab Road in Quetta Friday, FP News desk reported. According to initial reports, the explosives were fixed in a bicycle that exploded near a security forces’ vehicle, injuring eight persons including a troop.

Posted by whisker at 4:11 AM

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)