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, August 17, 2013

War News for Saturday, August 17, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: Nine building contractors and a policeman have been killed by insurgents in an attack on a camp in western Afghanistan, officials say. The contractors were working on a foreign-funded road building project in Herat province.The contractors were working on a foreign-funded road building project in Herat province. Police say Taliban militants armed with rocket propelled guns and automatic weapons attacked the camp.

#2: A separate assault saw five people, including women and children, killed by a roadside bomb in Helmand province. Five members of the same family were killed in the Marjah district of southern Helmand province when their van struck a roadside bomb, according to the Associated Press news agency.

 #3: as a result of suicide explosion 18 people including Afghan and NATO soldiers injured in Kandahar city on Friday. The incident occurred in a gathering of Afghan and ANTO forces in Dorahi –e- Arghesistan on Kandahar airport road. It has been said the Afghan and NATO soldiers were fixing a vehicle of NATO forces in the area. Jawid Faisal, spokesperson of the governor of Kandahar confirmed the incident. According to a national army soldier who was present in the area
8 NATO’s and 6 Afghan soldiers along with 4 civilians were wounded in this attack.

#4: An IED was defused near the residence of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pevaiz Khattak in the Hayatabad area of the city on Saturday. The IED was thrown outside a mosque in Hayatabad Phase 2 by men riding motorcycles. According to AIG Bomb Disposal Unit Shafqat Malik, the IED contained one kilogram of explosive material and was placed in a food canister.

#5: Afghan police in coordination with the national army and the NATO-led troops have killed 36 armed Taliban militants across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. During the operations which had been carried out in Nangarhar, Baghlan, Zabul, Logar and Paktia provinces, five more militants sustained injuries and four others made captive.

#6: A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a private health clinic in Balablock district of Farah province with Farah city as its capital 695 km west of Kabul, leaving four people dead including the attacker and three others injured on Saturday, police said. In the meantime, Abdul Rahman Zhawandon, the spokesman for the provincial government, in talks with Xinhua confirmed the incident, saying "a man strapped explosive device on his body blew it up inside the private health clinic of an influential figure Zabith Jalil killing three of his bodyguards and injuring four others including Jalil."

Posted by whisker at 5:05 AM

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