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


Friday, July 18, 2014

War News for Friday, July 18, 2014


Militants Slip Away from Pakistani Armed Forces


Reported security incidents
#1: Militants killed eight members of a government paramilitary force in a midnight attack on a security checkpoint in Pakistan's restive northwest, security officials said Friday. The militants bombarded the checkpoint with rocket-propelled grenades, two senior military officials said, before overrunning and ransacking it. Local residents said the gunfire began around midnight and continued for at least two hours.

#2: Two people, including a Taliban militant, were killed Friday and 14 others injured after an apparently accidental explosion in eastern Afghanistan, an official said. "An enemy of the people was carrying a bomb on his motorbike, but it exploded on the way in Mehtarlam city," said Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the governor of Laghman province.

#3: Five staff members of an intelligence agency were killed while six others were injured  in an accident near Sahiwal, a private channel reported. The accident took place late on Thursday when a van carrying  intelligence officers collided head-on with a truck while returning from the funeral of an intelligence officer, who was killed during Thursday operation on Raiwand Road against alleged terrorists.

#4: The bomb attack that left the policeman dead and three others wounded took place in the Yakatoot area of Peshawar city. The bomb exploded near a police van in Yakatoot neighbourhood at around 4:00am (2300 GMT Thursday), killing a policeman and injuring three others," a senior police official, told AFP.

#5: Four people were killed in a firing incident in the Mehmonabad are of the city (Quetta) on Friday. Police said the dead include three family members (grandfather, father and son) who were returning home after offering their Friday prayers. According to police, two men on a motorcycle fled after opening fire.

#6: A 10-year-old girl was injured in the latest wave of cross-border shelling from the other side of Durand line in Kunar province. According to local government official, at least ten rockets were fired in Kunar province on Thursday night.

Posted by whisker at 4:46 AM

1 comments:

Ligue 1 Live said...

Afganistan is passing a very terrible time. May be they have a lake of a reliable leader. Also the boarder country like Pakistan & other should do something betterment for them.

July 23, 2014 at 11:14 AM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)