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, March 3, 2014

War News for Monday, March 03, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: Gunmen burst into a court in a busy shopping area in the heart of Pakistan’s capital today, killing at least 11 people in a suicide-bomb and gun attack likely to shatter any prospect of meaningful peace talks with Taliban insurgents. An explosion reverberated in central Islamabad just after 9 a.m., followed by bursts of gunfire. Police said at least 30 were wounded. A judge was among those killed.

#2: A bomb on Monday killed at least two paramilitary troops and wounded six others in the Khyber Agency bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The incident happened in the Sadokhel area of Khyber Agency where Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam militant groups are active. “An improvised explosive device planted along the roadside went off as two vehicles of paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) passed by, killing two soldiers and wounding six others,”

#3: Warplanes bombed the hideout of a militant leader, killing five insurgents, the military said on Sunday, only a day after the Pakistani Taliban declared a one-month ceasefire to pursue stalled peace talks with the government.
 
#4: At least five insurgents were killed when the security forces including police launched an operation in western province of Herat, police said in a statement Sunday.
#5: Two Afghan army soldiers were killed in two bomb attacks, the country's Defense Ministry said on Sunday. "Two Afghan National Army soldiers were martyred in two improvised explosive device attacks in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province and Gereshk district of neighboring Helmand province," the ministry said in a statement.

#6: At least 27 Taliban militants were killed or injured following military operations conducted by Afghan national security forces in the past 24 hours.

#7: Anti-government armed militants abducted nearly 40 residents of Goshta and Lalpur districts in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. According to local government officials, the residents were charged for supporting the government of Afghanistan by the anti-government armed militants

Posted by whisker at 4:27 AM

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