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, March 13, 2014

War News for Thursday, March 13, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: A would-be-suicide bomber was shot dead close to the Indian consulate building in Afghanistan's Kandahar city Thursday, the police said. "A man wearing an explosives-laden jacket tried to approach the consulate gateway. The Afghan National Police identified the terrorist and fired at him after he ignored the police warning," Kandahar's provincial police spokesman Zia Durrani told Xinhua.

#2: The Afghan National Security Forces have conducted a series of operations across the country in which 26 Taliban militants have been killed, 17 wounded and 11 arrested, Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior Affairs has said.

#3: At least six militants were killed and eleven other wounded during a clash erupted between the forces loyal to the Afghan government and the armed rebels in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said Wednesday. Police chief, Fazl Ahmad Shirzad told Wakht News Agency that the forces stepped up to a counterattack from the Taliban who used heavy and small arms to target their outposts in the restive border Chaparhar district.

#4: A source from the provincial election commission (IEC) said Thursday that five of the commission members along with two vehicles were held by the insurgents in eastern Nangarhar province, an official said.

Posted by whisker at 4:22 AM

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