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, October 5, 2013

War News for Saturday, October 5, 2013


Foreign soldier dies in Afghanistan --  A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan died due to non-battle related injury Saturday, the alliance said.

Gunman kills NATO service member -- A gunman, possibly a private security guard, shot dead a member of the U.S.-led international coalition in southern Afghanistan on Saturday before himself being killed, NATO said.


Reported security incidents
#1: At least five civilians, including three children, were killed overnight in a NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan after they went hunting for birds with air guns, local officials said Saturday. “Last night around 11:00 pm, five civilians aged between 12 and 20 carrying air guns wanted to go hunting birds some eight kilometers [five miles] from the center of the city of Jalalabad. They were targeted and killed by a foreign forces airstrike,” provincial police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashreqiwal told AFP.

#2: Units of Afghan police backed by the national army have killed 18 Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Saturday. The operations were carried out in Kandahar, Farah and Helmand provinces, during which one militant was injured and 13 others made captive, said the statement.

#3: According to local authorities in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan, at least 11 people including Afghan police officers were killed or injured following a roadside bomb explosion in this province. The officials further added, the incident took place in Qaisar district around 11am local time on Friday, leaving two Afghan police officers dead and nine others injured.

Posted by whisker at 5:02 AM

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