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, January 4, 2013

War News for Friday, January 04, 2013


Insider Attacks in Afghanistan Shape the Late Stages of a War


Reported security incidents
#1: At least 20 militants were killed and 14 others injured when Pakistani army launched an operation in the country’s northwest tribal region of Khyber on Friday morning, local media reported. Local Urdu TV channel Geo quoted military sources as saying that the army jet fighters pounded five hideouts of militants in Tirah Valley area in Khyber, a restive semi-autonomous region bordering Afghanistan.

#2: Up to 10 insurgents have been detained in an operation carried out by Afghan forces and the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in the country's eastern province of Ghazni, said the ISAF forces on Thursday. "Afghan and coalition forces detained 10 insurgents and located one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East ( RC-East) said in a statement.


DM/MoD: Oversergent René Brink Jakobsen

Posted by whisker at 4:29 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)