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, June 5, 2014

War News for Thursday, June 05, 2014

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, June 5th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Mohammad Qasim, police chief for the Waghaz district in the southern Gazni province, had gone with other officers to remove a roadside bomb planted by Taliban insurgents, district governor Abdul Azim Farooqi said. When they removed the bomb another mine concealed under it exploded, killing Qasim and two other officers. Another policeman was wounded in the blast.

#2: In a separate incident, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying Afghan army personnel in the western city of Herat, killing two officers and wounding three others, said Mohammad Nadir Fahimi, the deputy provincial police chief. He said police were searching for the assailants.

#3: At least seven Pakistani soldiers have been killed and as many injured in two cross-border attacks by Taliban militants on military outposts on the border with Afghanistan. 

#4: At least three civilians were killed and 12 others wounded when a bomb went off in Afghanistan Wednesday, sources said. The explosion occurred in Maimana city, the provincial capital of Faryab province, Wednesday morning.

#5: Two senior army officers and three civilians were killed Wednesday when a suicide bomber ambushed a vehicle carrying security forces near the Pakistani capital, according to a military spokesman. In the attack in Rawalpindi, next to the capital, Islamabad, the bomber hurled himself at a double-cabin pickup near a railway intersection, killing two lieutenant colonels in the Pakistani army along with the three civilians.

#6: According to the report Balochistan ‘s provincial interior minister Sarfaraz Bugti told the media a crossfire between the security personnel and terrorists broke out during a cleanup operation in Darijan area of Dera Bugti. One Frontier Corps (FC) personnel was martyred in the clash while at least 30 terrorists were killed by the forces.

#7: At least four Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following an attack in northeastern Badakhshan province of Afghanistan.

#8: At least one person was killed and seven others were injured following an explosion in capital Kabul early Thursday morning. According to security officials, the incident took place in Pul-e-Charkhi area of Kabul city after a magnetic bomb planted in a police vehicle went off. The officials further added that a number of police officers were also among those injured following the blast.

Posted by whisker at 4:44 AM

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