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, April 1, 2013

War News for Monday, April 01, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: Unknown militants torched five containers, carrying back Nato supplies from Afghanistan to Port Qasim Karachi, in Balochistan’s Bolan district on Monday. Sources told that four motorcycle-riding militants opened fire on containers in Kambiri area of Bolan district adding that the drivers survived the attack. Levies further said that the armed men set containers in fire after the drivers fled from the site.

#2: A local police commander was shot dead by his bodyguards who later join to the insurgents in northern Faryab province, an official on Monday said. The shooting took place late on Sunday in the Khwaja Kanti area of Qaisar district, Abdul Jameel Sadique, the district chief told Pajhwok Afghan News.

#3: Unknown gunmen attacked a police check post in Shangla and injured two policemen Monday, FP News desk reported. According to police, unidentified attackers opened fire on a police check post in the wee hours of Monday morning in Tehsil Poran of Shanga that injured two security men. The assailants fled when the policemen opened fire in return.


#4: Afghan security forces and the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have defused 10 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in eastern Afghanistan, the ISAF said on Monday. "Afghan National Security Forces and Coalition Forces found and safely cleared 10 improvised explosive devices, detained four suspected insurgents, discovered one weapons cache during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The home-made bombs were neutralized in Khost, Paktika, Kunar, Logar and Laghman provinces, it added.

#5: Separately, a local Taliban leader named Hodeer Khan and two others were killed and two insurgents were wounded in an airstrike by the coalition forces in Wata Pur district, Kunar province, provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Habib told Xinhua earlier Monday.

Posted by whisker at 3:40 AM

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