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


Saturday, June 22, 2013

War News for Saturday, June 22, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an enemy (attack) in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, June 22nd.


FBR Intelligence pulls the cover from missing containers scam


Reported security incidents

#1: Afghan authorities say Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints in a northern provincial capital, killing two members of a community-based security force. The officials claim 18 attackers died in the assault. Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, spokesman for Kunduz provincial police, said Saturday that the initial Taliban attack Friday in the provincial capital of the same name killed one member of the Afghan local police and wounded two. Hussaini says the Taliban then moved outside the city where a gun battle with Afghan security forces lasted until about midnight. He says 18 Taliban fighters and another local policeman were killed. Another 11 militants were wounded.

#2: A bomb explosion on Saturday killed two members of a Pakistani pro-government militia in a tribal region near the Afghanistan border, officials said. The explosion took place in Chamarkand town, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal region. "Two members of a pro-government tribal peace committee were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off near them," local administration official, Ghulam Saeedullah told AFP. He said that the men were inspecting the site of an earlier IED blast when a second device went off.

#3: Fourteen militants have been killed in operations in eastern Afghanistan, said the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Saturday. "Afghan National Security and Coalition Forces killed 14 enemies of Afghanistan, detained three suspected enemies of Afghanistan, discovered one weapons cache and found and safely cleared four improvised explosive devices during operations in eastern Afghanistan throughout the past 24 hours," the ISAF's Regional Command-East said in a press release. The raids were launched in eastern Ghazni, Khost, Paktika, Pawran and Wardak provinces, the release noted, saying nine of the militants were killed in Paktika province.

#4: At least eight government armed oppositions were killed when the security forces overpowered the insurgents resisting the forces in an overnight light and heavy arms fire exchange in eastern province of Nangarhar, the alliance said Saturday. The incident took place in Achin district of the province, where the commandos from the 1st Special Operations Kandak killed eight insurgents, said the source in a statement. Insurgents opened fire with rocket propelled grenades and PKMs as Commandos conducted a clearing operation in Mohmand valley, near the Shadel Bazaar. The Commandos immediately returned fire and overpowered the enemy fighters, killing eight.

Posted by whisker at 5:08 AM

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