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


Thursday, October 3, 2013

War News for Thursday, October 03, 2013


UAE forces complete mine clearing in Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: On Sept. 7, insurgents used a bomb to blow up a helicopter as it was landing on hill near a main air base in western Herat province, seriously wounding the Afghan pilot and his U.S. army trainer. They apparently had noticed that the helicopter always landed in the same place after a training mission.

#2: A government official says a suicide attack targeting a militant commander has killed 15 people in northwestern Pakistan. The official, Wajid Khan, says the militant commander targeted in the attack Thursday, Nabi Hanfi, has been fighting against the Pakistani Taliban in the Orakzai tribal region where the bombing occurred. Khan says gunmen fired shots at Hanfi's compound and then a suicide bomber drove a vehicle inside and detonated his explosives. The blast killed 15 people and wounded six others. It's unclear if Hanfi was killed.

#3: Nine insurgents including two Pakistani nationals were killed during a series of clearance operation in southern province of Kandahar, an official said Thursday. The incident took place late on last evening, when the security forces conduced a clearance operation in Mashan and Zangan areas of the Panjwaye district, where two Pakistani affiliated to the insurgents along with their seven colleagues were killed, said the governor office in a statement.

#4: Three Afghan soldiers lost their lives and four others sustained injuries as a roadside bomb struck a military van in Nawa district of the southern Helmand province on Wednesday, a local official said. "A bomb planted by militants on a road in Nawa district struck a military van at around 10:30 a.m. local time today killing three soldiers and wounding four others," district police chief Ahmad Shah told Xinhua.

#5: National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Thursday announced to seized a vehicle laden with explosives in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.

Posted by whisker at 4:25 AM

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