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


Wednesday, November 13, 2013

War News for Wednesday, November 13, 2013


Reported security incidents
#1: Seven Taliban militants were killed in a gun battle in Rigistan district of the southern Afghanistan province of Kandahar Wednesday, police said.

#2: At least two security men were killed in an explosion that occurred near a security check post in Takhta Beg area, of northern Pakistani tribal region, bordering Afghanistan on Wednesday. According to political administration officials, unknown persons had planted an explosive device near the Takhta Beg checkpoint in Jamrud that exploded on Wednesday morning with a huge bang killing two security men.

#3: In another related incident, militants attacked a police check post in northern Bannu district wounding two security men. According to police officials, the militants fired 12 rockets at the police check post in the northwestern district of Bannu, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province but police retaliated and managed to repulse the attack.

#4: Afghan officials say roadside bombings in the restive south and west have killed three boys. One of Wednesday's attacks took place in western Farah province, where two boys died. A provincial governor's spokesman, Abdul Rahman Zhawandai, says a bomb exploded outside a school just as the boys came out. That explosion also wounded three students.

#5: The third boy was killed in the southern Uruzgan province, a Taliban stronghold. Police spokesman Farid Ayal says the teenager was returning home on his bicycle when the explosion occurred.

#6: Afghan police backed by the national army have killed more than three dozen Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said in a statement released here on Wednesday.

#7: Six Taliban militants were killed and three local Taliban leaders were arrested in army operations in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province on Tuesday, an army source said Wednesday morning.

#8: Police chief for Registan district escaped unhurt from an attack by Taliban militants in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, local officials said. According to a statement released by the provincial government media office, Taliban militants ambushed the convoy of Registan police chief early Wednesday.

Posted by whisker at 3:35 AM

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