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


Monday, November 25, 2013

War News for Monday, November 25, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: Two local Taliban leaders were killed in an air raid in eastern Afghanistan's Wardak province overnight, the provincial sources said Monday. "The Taliban local leaders named Noor Sayyed and Ezatullah were killed in an airstrike in Kohna Khumar, a suburb of the provincial capital at early hours of Monday," the provincial government said in a statement.

#2: Earlier on Monday, the Afghan Interior Ministry said that five militants were killed, three wounded and three arrested in a series of military operations in other provinces within the last 24 hours.

Ten militants were killed and three others detained in separate joint military operations across Afghanistan within the last 24 hours, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday.

#3: The Afghan national security forces thwarted missile attack plot in capital Kabul, which was aimed to disturb the national grand council (Loya Jirga).

Posted by whisker at 4:15 AM

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