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


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

War News for Tuesday, July 16, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a direct fire attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 16th.


1,726 killed in Karachi during last six months

Taliban attacks and Afghan forces casualties increased: Azimi


Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan official says a bomb planted on a bicycle in eastern Nangarhar province has killed two civilians and wounded three others. Provincial spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai says the incident took place early Tuesday on the outskirts of Jalalabad, Nangarhar's capital.

"An explosives-rigged bicycle was remotely detonated, killing a police officer and an officer of the National Directorate of Security (intelligence agency) in a suburb of Jalalabad city," capital of Nangahar, the province's police spokesman Hazrat Hussain said.

#2: A gas pipeline, 12-inch in diameter, was blown up near Mach town in the early hours of Tuesday. The explosion disrupted gas supply to several areas in Balochistan but repair work on the pipeline has not resumed as yet.

#3: Earlier on Tuesday morning, one policeman was killed and two others wounded when Taliban laid an ambush attack against a police mobile in Baghlan-e-Markazi district of northern Baghlan province, 160 km north of Kabul, a provincial police spokesman Jawi Basharat told Xinhua. On Monday night, one policeman and one militant were killed and one police cop was injured when Taliban launched an attacked on a police checkpoint in Baghlan's Burka district, the spokesman added.

#4: In Kabul, one suicide bomber was shot dead and several militants were injured when they tried to assault a police checkpoint near the Kabul International Airport Monday night, local media reported. No policeman was hurt in the shooting lasting for a while.

#5: Eight Taliban militants had been killed in three separate incidents in former Taliban stronghold -- southern Kandahar province, 450 km south of Kabul, on Monday, the provincial government confirmed in separate statements.

Posted by whisker at 4:06 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)