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, January 14, 2014

War News for Tuesday, January 14, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: Seven security personnel were injured when a police van was targeted with a roadside IED in the restive Khyber-Pakthunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan today. The explosion occurred near Kolachi in Dera Ismail Khan district, which borders the South Waziristan tribal region.
#2: Seven militants were killed in separate military operations in Afghanistan since early Monday, said the country's Interior Ministry on Tuesday. "Afghan police, army and the National Directorate for Security (NDS) or intelligence agency carried out several cleanup operations in Baghlan, Zabul, Uruzgan and Farah provinces over the past 24 hours. As a result seven armed Taliban members were killed, three wounded and six others were arrested," the ministry said in a statement.

At least ten militants were killed or injured following military operations by Afghan security forces in various provinces of Afghanistan during the past 24 hours.

#3: In other developments, five policemen and two civilians were wounded in two separate bomb attacks in Chapa Dara and Sarkano districts of eastern Kunar province overnight, the provincial police chief Habibullah Sayyedkhil told Xinhua earlier on Tuesday.

#4: According to local security officials in southern Uruzgan province of Afghanistan, at least three Afghan Local Police (ALP) officers were stabbed to death in the latest insider attack case in this province. The officials further added that the incident took place early Tuesday morning in Charchino district after a group of militants attacked a check post in Dawan area.

#5: At least six people including three children and three women were injured following a mortar fire in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. The incident reportedly took place in Khogyani district around 11am local time on Friday, after a mortar shell landed in a residential house.

Posted by whisker at 4:20 AM

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)