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 18, 2013

War News for Monday, March 18, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: The Kandahar airport where Bulgarian NATO contingent is stationed has been under rocket fire, the Bulgarian caretaker Defense Minister, Todor Tagarev, announced Monday. Speaking for the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, Tagarev explained the incident happened just ahead of the rotation of Bulgarian rangers in Afghanistan. None of the some three hundred Bulgarian rangers at the Kandahar Air Base have been wounded, according to the Minister. There is no material damage either.

#2: At least four people were killed and 30 injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up after terrorists stormed the judicial complex located on Khyber Road. According to police terrorists tried to enter the courtroom of Additional Sessions Judge Kulsoom Azam. Additional IG Masood Afridi said there were two suicide bombers; one blew himself up while the other was shot by the police. He added that the four policemen were injured in the attack. Masood Afridi confirmed that the premises of the complex had been secured.

#3: Uzbek border guards shot to death three Afghans in the northern Balkh province, - reported "Afghanistan.ru” with reference to a senior official of the security forces. On the night of Saturday to Sunday, Uzbek border guards opened fire on the seven Afghan policemen, who went to the forest in the middle of the Amu Darya, according to an Afghan news service Pajhwork Afgan News. Three policemen were killed, according to the commander of the Afghan Border Guards, General Mohammad Jan Mamozay. The shooting was done on Afghan territory.

#4: Units of Afghan national police during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours have killed 12 Taliban militants, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Monday. The operations, according to the statement were conducted in Nangarhar, Kandahar, Uruzgan, Maidan Wardak, Logar, Farah and Helmand provinces which have also left eight more militants wounded and four others arrested. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on police.


DoD:  Staff Sgt. Steven P. Blass

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Henderson

DoD: Capt. Sara M. Knutson

DoD: Staff Sgt. Marc A. Scialdo

DoD: Spc. Zachary L. Shannon

DoD: Chief Warrant Officer James E. Groves III

Posted by whisker at 4:35 AM

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