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, December 22, 2014

War News for Monday, December 22, 2014


Pakistan to execute 500 militants


Reported security incidents
#1: At least 28 militants have been killed in Afghanistan, the defence ministry said on Monday.

#2: The Afghan army has waged an offensive in Dangam district of eastern Kunar province, where has been the scene of fierce clashes within the past 10 days, an army source said on Monday.

#3: An Afghan official says seven policemen were killed in a northern province after their checkpoint came under attack by insurgents. Abdul Manan Raoufi, police operational chief of Jawzjan province, says that along with the seven killed, five other policemen were wounded in the attack late Saturday in a village in the province's Qashtepa district.

#4: Finnish military personnel and Afghan security officials came under gunfire in northern Afghanistan on Saturday. The attack went on for some twenty minutes, commander Pekka Kortelainen told Yle from a military base in Mazar-i-Sharif. Kortelainen said that the attackers were rebels, and had not yet been apprehended on Sunday evening.

#5: A prosecutor of Kunar province Appeal Court was martyred by explosion of a mine yesterday.

#6: As a result of mines explosion 5 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers were martyred in the country. Ministry of National Defense press office spokesman stated BNA, 5 ANA forces were targeted by mines explosion, while they were busy in their routine duties in different parts of the country.

#7: Five children who were playing close to landmine embraced martyrdom after they pulled the wire attached to it in western Farah province.

Posted by whisker at 3:28 AM

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