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 23, 2013

War News for Tuesday, July 23, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of three ISAF soldiers from an IED blast in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, July 23rd. News reports that a suicide bomber riding a donkey killed the soldiers and their interpter in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province. Four ANA soldiers were also wounded in the attack.


Security along Pak-Afghan border tightened

Pentagon Lays Out Options for U.S. Military Effort in Syria


Reported security incidents
#1: A farmer was killed, when hit a roadside mine in eastern province of Kanahar, where the officials said on Tuesday had been planted by the insurgents.
 
#2: Two militants were killed and one was captured when Taliban launched an armed attack on checkpoints in southern Afghan province of Helmand early Tuesday morning, the police said. "Several militants stormed an Afghan National Police (ANP) checkpoints in Torgodar area of provincial capital Laghkar Gah at around 1:30 a.m. local time. As a result two militants were killed and one was detained," deputy coordinator for provincial police headquarters Ismail Hotak told Xinhua. He said one policeman was also slightly wounded in the firing in the city, 555 km south of national capital Kabul.

#3: On Monday night, seven Afghan soldiers and police were killed and 13 civilians were wounded when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to a motorcycle was detonated in neighbouring Uruzgan province.

Posted by whisker at 4:17 AM

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