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


Saturday, December 13, 2014

War News for Saturday, December 13, 2014

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an enemy attack an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, December 12th. News reports that a roadside bombing targeted a NATO convoy near Bagram Airfield, Parwin province late on Friday night.


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Reported security incidents
#1: Taliban fighters have killed at least 12 workers clearing mines in the country's south, according to an Afghan police spokesperson, but the group has not yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Farid Ahmad Obaid said the attack happened on Saturday at the Shorab camp in Helmand province, the Associated Press news agency reported.

#2: Afghan authorities said a senior official of the country's Supreme Court has been shot and killed in the capital, Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the secretariat of Afghanistan's Supreme Court. Farid Afzali, chief of Kabul police's criminal investigation unit, said the attack occurred early on Saturday morning near Rawoofi's home in a northwestern Kabul neighbourhood.

#3: Meawnhile, a suicide attack in the Afghan capital on Saturday targeted a bus carrying army personnel. Reports said the bus was burnt down. At least 14 people were reportedly injured, the ministry of defence told Al Jazeera.

#4: Police in northern Afghanistan said on December 12 that three militant commanders linked to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan were killed as a result of an overnight police operation in Baghlan Province.

#5: Militants killed a policeman and injured another two in Balochistan's troubled Khuzdar district on Saturday morning. Muhammad Ibrahim, a police official told Dawn that militants opened fire at a police check post at Zero Point Khuzdar killing one personnel on the spot. Injured policemen were shifted to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) for treatment.

#6: Pakistan police foiled a major terror attack Saturday in central Punjab province killing at least four suspected Taliban militants, officials said. "In the exchange of fire, we killed four militants. Two police officials were also injured by two grenades hurled at them by the militants," he said.

#7: At least eleven Taliban insurgents were killed following operations led by Afghan National Security Forces in different parts of the country.

Posted by whisker at 5:11 AM

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