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


Friday, January 31, 2014

War News for Friday, January 31, 2014




After billions in U.S. investment, Afghan roads are falling apart

Former Canadian Army General jailed in Afghanistan

Ex-soldier Daniel Ménard optimistic about release from Kabul prison


Reported security incidents
#1: An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked three police checkpoints overnight in the southern province of Helmand. The police repelled the attacks but lost one officer. Police chief of Marjah district, Zamaria Zarak, said on Friday that at least 13 insurgent fighters were killed in the gunbattles that followed the checkpoint attacks.

#2: A bomb blast on Friday killed at least three paramilitary soldiers and wounded four others in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Balochistan, officials said. The roadside bomb hit a patrol vehicle in the Jahoo area of remote Awaran district.

Posted by whisker at 4:09 AM

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