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 27, 2014

War News for Saturday, December 27, 2014


US plagued by doubts as it exits Afghan war


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghanistan's Nato-led foreign force mistakenly killed three civilians in an air strike, Afghan officials said on Saturday.

#2: Four people were killed and two others wounded after a roadside bomb hit a vehicle in the southern Kandahar province Friday night, a local official said on Saturday. "A mine planted by militants struck a car in Dand district Friday evening, leaving four persons including three security personnel and a civilian, dead," spokesman for Kandahar provincial government Samim Khapalwak told reporters. Two other civilians sustained injuries in the blast, he added.

#3: Pakistani warplanes and ground forces killed 39 militants as part of a continuing operation in a volatile tribal region near the Afghan border, the Pakistani military said. The airstrikes were carried out Friday evening in the Datta Khel area of the North Waziristan tribal region, an army statement said Saturday

#4: One suicide bomber was killed while another blew himself up during a security forces’ operation in Pakistan’s Balochistan province Saturday morning.

#5: In a joint operation conducted by Afghan security forces 6 insurgents were killed in Kapisa province yesterday.

Posted by whisker at 3:40 AM

1 comments:

anatta said...

re: US plagued with doubts " now that 'combat missions are ending'

of course there are doubts was it worth it all - prolly not as nationbuilding is the most difficult war.

But optimistic the ANSF are cohesive enough to become a national army -which is a glue to hold together a nation.

so we'll see.

PS thanks for everything here one more time WHISKER

December 27, 2014 at 5:56 AM

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