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


Friday, September 13, 2013

War News for Friday, September 13, 2013

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from non-combat related injuries in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, September 13th.


Raid on U.S. Mission Points to Afghan Security Woes


Reported security incidents
#1: Three security force members and four attackers killed in car bomb and gun attack near US compound in city of Herat. At least seven people have died and 17 others injured in an apparent Taliban attack targeting the United States consulate in Herat, Afghanistan. Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, the governor of Herat province, told the AP news agency that the attack began at about 6am local time (2am GMT) on Friday with a powerful car bomb explosion about 60m from the consulate compound. Loud explosions followed by gunfire were heard and a plume of thick smoke was seen rising over the city, in the west of Afghanistan. Two policemen and a consulate security guard were reported killed and 17 others - including four women and two other police - were injured. Local sources told Al Jazeera there were five attackers, four of whom were killed by police or by detonating bombs.

#2: Gunmen attacked a convoy of NATO oil tankers in southwest Pakistan overnight, killing a driver and torching eight vehicles, local officials said Friday. The attackers fired rockets and bullets at the convoy of 15 oil tankers travelling from Karachi to Afghanistan. “The gunmen attacked the convoy at a rest stop in Soorab town of Kallat district. They fired rockets and bullets on the convoy from both sides of the road,” police official Yousaf Reiki said. “One Pakistani driver of a tanker died in the attack while eight tankers were burnt,” he added.

#3: Afghan forces operations against Taliban militants have claimed the lives of 18 Taliban fighters and led to arresting 35 others over the past five days, officials said Friday. In the latest crackdown against Taliban militants, the security forces raided Taliban hideouts in Charchino district of the southern Uruzgan province 370 km south of Kabul on Thursday and so far 18 insurgents have been killed, police asserted.

#4: One person was killed and three others sustained injuries as a bomb blast rocked Uruzgan's provincial capital Trinkot 370 km south of Kabul on Friday, police spokesman in the province, Farid Ayel said.

Posted by whisker at 3:54 AM

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