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, October 11, 2013

War News for Friday, October 11, 2013


Last major British deployment in Afghanistan begins

UN votes final mandate for Afghan force

Pakistani PM says gov't serious in Taliban talks


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan national police backed by the army have killed 28 Taliban militants and wounded over a dozen others across the militancy-plagued country over the past 24 hours, Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement released here Friday. During the operations which carried out in Nangarhar, Daikundi, Logar, Wardak, Baghlan and Helmand provinces, 15 more Taliban fighters sustained injuries and another was captured, the statement said.

#2: At least four people were killed and 30 others injured as a blast went off near a police station in Pakistan's southwest city of Quetta on Thursday afternoon, reported local media Express.

#3: According to local authorities in eastern Khost province of Afghanistan, at least four civilians were injured following a suicide bomb attack in this province. The officials further added that the incident took place on Thursday afternoon in Mandozai district after a suicide bomber attacked a convoy of the NATO troops. District chief for Mandozai, Mohammad Younus confirming the report said a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into the convoy of the US troops, leaving at least four civilians injured.

Posted by whisker at 4:10 AM

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