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


Thursday, January 23, 2014

War News for Thursday, January 23, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: Gun battles between Taliban militants and police have left six insurgents dead and injured nine others in the northern Saripul and Faryab provinces Wednesday night, local officials said Thursday. "Taliban rebels raided a police checkpoint in Saripul city Wednesday night but police returned fire killing four rebels on the spot and injuring nine others," provincial police chief Noor Habib Noor told Xinhua. In similar conflict which took place in Qaisar district of the neighboring Faryab province on the same night, police had killed two Taliban militants, the police spokesman in Faryab province, Sayed Masoud yaqubi, said.

#2: Five Minnesota National Guard soldiers from the Litchfield, Minn., unit have been wounded in an attack in Afghanistan. The soldiers were injured Monday, at 10:30 a.m. Afghanistan time, during an attack on Forward Operating Base Pasab in Kandahar Province, according to a statement from Lt. Col. Kevin Olson, spokesman for the Minnesota National Guard.

#3: Five people were killed and many others sustained injures in a blast near Kohat Road, Peshawar, Express News reported on Thursday. The explosion took place near a pick-up stand in the Scheme Chowk area, however, the exact nature of the blast is not known as yet.

#4: Armed militants opened fire and killed five civilians in the eastern Laghman province on Thursday, a local official said.


DoD: Chief Warrant Officer Edward Balli

Posted by whisker at 3:42 AM

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