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, October 23, 2014

War News for Thursday, October 23, 2014


Taliban Are Rising Again in Afghanistan’s North


Reported security incidents
#1: At least six militants were killed and seven others injured today in fresh clashes between security forces and militants in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal Khyber region. The latest clash took place in the Sipah area of Bara Tehsil with Operation Khyber I (Khyber one) underway in the region. The operation was formally launched earlier this month.


Meanwhile, two security personnel embraced martyrdom and ten others sustained injuries. The militants killed clashes today were said to belong to banned terror outfit "Lashkar-e-Islam".

#2: Gunmen opened fire at a bus carrying members of a minority Shi’a community in south-western Pakistan on Thursday, killing eight people, police said, in the worse sectarian attack in months. At least five masked attackers riding motorcycles chased the bus on the outskirts of Quetta in restive Balochistan province. They dragged people out and killed them one by one, said police official Imran Qureshi.

#3: Four police were wounded as a car bomb rocked Afghanistan's northern Kunduz city on Thursday, a security official said.

#4: In the latest violent event, a mortar struck a residential area in Gizab district of the southern Uruzgan province on Thursday, injuring four innocent children, a local official said.

#5: At least 5 terrorists were killed and 25 others wounded following clearing operations conducted by Afghan National army forces in Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

#6: A police killed his three colleagues in Helmand province last night. A security source who asks not to be named said BNA, the incident occurred in Marja district, Helmand province.

#7: At least ten Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were martyred in the latest wave of violence across the country in the past 24 hours.

Posted by whisker at 4:37 AM

1 comments:

anatta said...

without air support the ANA has been taking huge losses..who did not see this coming??

Tired of being there, but the ANA hasn't fled like Iraqi army.

We (US)should have found a way to keep sir support

October 23, 2014 at 12:24 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)