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


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

War News for Tuesday, November 19, 2013


UN: 12,000 Taliban Killed, Wounded In 2013

Cannibal Killer Served In Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Five people including four Taliban militants were killed in a clash in Dawlat Shah district of eastern Afghan province of Laghman on Tuesday, the provincial government said in a statement. “A group of armed Taliban rebels stormed a security checkpoint at 02:00 am local time today but the troops returned fire during which five people including four rebels and a security personnel were killed,” the statement added.

#2: A roadside bomb killed seven children from the same family in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktika province, said the governor’s spokesman Mokhlis Afghan. Another three children in the family were wounded. The children were playing on a road near their home when the bomb exploded.

#3: At least five people, including two women and a child, were injured Tuesday in a hand-grenade attack on a shop in Jannat Bazaar in Balochistan's Gwadar district. According to the police, unknown armed motorbike riders threw a hand grenade at a general store owned by Mohammad Ashraf and escaped from the scene.

#4: Two people, including a driver of Nato container, were killed while the container was set on fire in Naseerabad and Jhal Magsi districts of Balochistan here on Monday.

#5: Afghan police backed by the army have killed 19 Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Tuesday.


DoD: Staff Sgt. Alex A. Viola

Posted by whisker at 4:15 AM

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