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, July 7, 2014

War News for Monday, July 07, 2014


Army operation in North Waziristan to end after elimination of terrorism’


Reported security incidents
#1: Five children were killed by a rocket fired by Taliban fighters during a battle with Afghan security forces in a northern region of the country on Monday, authorities said. The Taliban fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a civilian house in Ali Abad district of Kunduz province at 5 a.m., said Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, a spokesman for the provincial police chief. Four other people in the house were wounded, he added.

#2: An Afghan official says that five police officers including a district police chief have been killed when insurgents attacked their vehicle in the country’s west. Raouf Ahmadi, spokesman for the provincial police chief of Herat province, said on Monday that Sher Ahmad district police chief and four other policemen were killed in the attack carried out in Herat’s Farsi district. Another officer was wounded, he says.

#3: Authorities on Monday foiled an attempt to blow up Khushhal Khattak Express by successfully defusing a 10kg heavy bomb planted by the track at Fazalpur area of Rajanpur, Dunya News reported.

#4: Unknown gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle late here (Hyderabad) on Sunday night, killing at least three policemen and injuring two others, Pakistan Tribune reported. According to reports, the incident occurred in Latifabad no.8 area of the metropolis where six armed assailants riding six motorcycles opened indiscriminate fire on a police mobile van. Resultantly four policemen and a passerby sustained injuries.

#5: In another incident, unknown gunmen killed two policemen in the city of Quetta in Balochistan province.

#6: Conflict between Afghan security forces and Taliban militants is still continuing in Sangin district of the southern Helmand province, spokesman for provincial administration Omar Zawak said Monday.

#7: At least Afghan national army (ANA) soldiers were martyred following separate improvised explosive device (EID) attacks.

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