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


Monday, March 11, 2013

War News for Monday, March 11, 2013


Afghan Leader Says U.S. Abets Taliban’s Goal

NATO to transfer security of Afghan province to local forces: spokesman


Reported security incidents
#1:  Several NATO and Afghan service members were killed Monday when an assailant wearing an Afghan service uniform opened fire on the group, NATO said. The attack happened late Monday morning in eastern Afghanistan, said Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

Several US and Afghan soldiers have been shot dead by a gunman wearing Afghan uniform, the international military force Isaf says. Several others were wounded in the attack at a remote military base in eastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials told the BBC the gunman was either a member of the local police or an insurgent posing as one.

#2: Earlier on Monday, police in the Afghan capital Kabul said two civilian lorry drivers were killed and one wounded when they were fired on by an Isaf convoy. Isaf said soldiers opened fire to protect themselves when the two drivers failed to comply with a warning from the convoy.

#3: A commander of the Afghan Local Police was killed and 11 more, including six civilians, were injured when the Taliban attacked a security checkpost in Jurm district of Badakhshan province on Sunday. A gunfight erupted between the Taliban and Afghan Local Police after the attack, the district governor Abdul Jabbar told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). He said a police commander, Qurban, was killed while 11 more, including six civilians and five cops, were injured in the gunfight.
He said the Taliban also suffered casualties but he did not have accurate information.


#4: Meanwhile, three Afghan Local Police personnel were injured when the Taliban allegedly attacked their vehicle in Panjwai district of Kandahar province on Sunday. The Taliban attacked a vehicle of the Afghan Local Police in Sperwan area of Panjwai, the district governor Fazl Muhammad Ashaqzai told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).

#5: A civilian was killed and two more sustained injuries in a roadside bombing in Farah province yesterday, an official said Sunday. A vehicle carrying civilians struck an improvised explosive device in sixth security zone of Farah city yesterday, the Farah deputy governor Muhammad Younis Rasuli told the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). The victims had no government job, he said, adding they were relatives of a policeman.

#6: 2 police killed in attack on Iranian Border outpost: Two border police have been killed and another injured in an apparent Taliban attack in western Farah province, local officials said. The attack took place in Farah’s Pasht Koh district of the province when a group of insurgents raided a border police outpost, according to the commander of border police in western Afghanistan Shir Ahmad Maladani.

#7: Two police corporals were injured when a roadside bomb they tried to defuse exploded overnight in Jalalabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s eastern Nangarhar province, an official said on Monday. The blast in front of Jalalabad Palace took place around 10pm Sunday night near a police check point, police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqwal told an Afghan news agency.

#8: A Pakistan Army Captain and two soldiers were killed whereas two others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Upper Orakzai tribal region, officials confirmed. The attack took place late last night when the security forces convoy was targeted in Arkhanjo Mamozai village in Upper Orakzai tribal region,” the Frontier Corps media spokesperson Major Fazl told a private TV channel.

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