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


Wednesday, June 25, 2014

War News for Wednesday, June 25, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1-2: A bomb hidden in a push cart and detonated by remote control near a government building in northern Afghanistan killed four people on Wednesday while a rocket attack near the Kabul airport wounded four, officials said.

#1: The explosion, which struck early in the morning near the governor's building in Dawlat Abad district, also wounded 13 civilians, said Sayed Massoud Yaqoubi, the police spokesman in Faryab province.

#2: Meanwhile, Kabul police chief spokesman, Hashmat Stanikzai, said four people were wounded when two rockets struck near Kabul's international airport overnight.

#3: Separately, an Interior Ministry statement said three insurgents were killed late Tuesday night as they inadvertently detonated a roadside bomb they were trying to plant in the Domanda district in eastern Khost province.

#4: At least 100 Taliban militants have been killed in fighting around four military checkpoints in southern Afghanistan, local officials say, according to BBC News. Five days of clashes in Sangin district in Helmand province left 35 civilians and at least 21 Afghan troops dead. Tribal elders in the area say over 2,000 families have been displaced. There is no independent confirmation of the number of dead. The militants said on Tuesday, June 24 that only two of their fighters had been killed and that more than 40 soldiers had died.

At least four insurgents lost their lives an operation launched by National police forces in Helmand province the night before last.

#5: Two police and one civilian were killed Tuesday when Taliban insurgent fighters launched an attack on a police checkpoint in western Herat province, police said.

Posted by whisker at 3:31 AM

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