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, July 8, 2013

War News for Monday, July 08, 2013


Insurgents increasing in east Afghanistan but army sees gains

Norway threatens to cut Afghan aid


Reported security incidents
#1: Officials in Afghanistan say more than 20 Taliban militants have been killed in security operations in the country's east. The largest operation took place in Wardak Province, west of Kabul, where Afghan National Army soldiers killed 16 Taliban and confiscated weapons, cars, and motorcycles belonging to the militia. A spokesman for the Wardak governor said four additional Taliban were killed in a smaller police operation in the province. In nearby Laghman Province, a government official said two militants were killed in a gunbattle with the Afghan intelligence service. Ten members of the Afghan security forces were killed in the operations, including three national police killed at a checkpoint attack in Nangahar Province. 

#2: Gunmen opened fire on a tanker carrying fuel for US-led forces in Afghanistan in the Wadh area of Khuzdar district on Sunday. Police said the gunmen on a bike attacked the tanker when it was going to the border town of Chaman from Karachi, and escaped.

#3: Militants on Monday torched three Nato containers in the Western Bypass area of Quetta. According to the police, four militants on two motorcycles opened fire on the containers, forcing the drivers to flee. Police sources added that the militants then came close to the containers and set them on fire. Police said that the three containers were parked at the Hazarganji bus stand. "Roaring flames of fire and thick black smoke could be seen from quite far away', eye witnesses said.
The assailants escaped unharmed from the site of the incident.

#4: A roadside bomb seriously wounded a prominent member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council on Sunday, an official said, while the government announced that recent fighting in the country has killed 14 Afghan soldiers and 64 Taliban militants. Fazil Ahmad, the High Peace Council's chief in Ghazni province, was in critical condition in a hospital with three others, who had been travelling with him, when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, said deputy provincial police chief Asadullah Ensafi. The car's driver was killed.

#5: In Kabul, the defence ministry said 14 soldiers and 27 Taliban militants had been killed in fighting and in roadside bomb attacks over the previous 24 hours. The ministry said the casualties included 10 Taliban fighters killed in a single operation in Wardak province, west of Kabul. Three soldiers were killed in Wardak by artillery fire and roadside bombs. Seven more soldiers were killed in Helmand province by roadside bombs, and four others were killed in other attacks across the country. The interior ministry, which controls the country's police forces, reported another 37 Taliban killed. It announced no police casualties.


US/DoD: Pvt. Errol D.A. Milliard

Posted by whisker at 4:32 AM

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