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, January 6, 2014

War News for Monday, January 06, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: At least nine people were killed and four others injured when a blast hit a house in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Khyber Agency on Monday afternoon, local media Dunya reported. The killed include three children, said the report quoting local administration, adding that several women were also injured in the blast. The blast took place in a drawing room of a local resident's house in Tirah Valley, a small town bordering on Afghanistan, said local media.

#2: The first incident took place on Monday, when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a government school in the Shia-dominated Ibrahimzai area of Hangu district.

#3: Two unidentified people were killed and two others injured when their car came under fire at Tump in Turbat district near Pakistan-Iran border on Sunday. “Four people were going to Turbat from Tump by car. When they reached Gomazai Chowk, two attackers opened fire at the vehicle,” Tump Assistant Commissioner Tump Hasnain said, adding two occupants of the car were killed on the spot and two others injured.

#4: Twenty-seven militants were killed in a series of military operations across Afghanistan since early Sunday, said the country's Interior Ministry on Monday. Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) carried out several anti-terrorism operations in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunduz, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghazni, Paktika and Paktiya provinces over the last 24 hours. As a result 27 armed Taliban members were killed, one wounded and three others were arrested by the ANSF," the ministry said in a statement providing daily operational updates.

#5: At least six people including Taliban militants were killed or injured following an ambush by Taliban fighters in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan. According to local security officials, the incident took place late Sunday night in Shebarghan city, after a group of Taliban militants attacked a security check post, which was providing security to a gas field project.

#6: A provincial official in Afghanistan say a suicide car bomber has attacked a security checkpoint in the country's east, killing three police officers. Musa Khan Akbarzada, the governor of Ghazni province, says the attack Monday also wounded three officers in the Shilghar district.


DoD: Sgt. First Class William K. Lacey

Posted by whisker at 4:18 AM

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