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, June 29, 2013

War News for Saturday, June 29, 2013


US wasting millions on Afghan aircraft

British troops won't leave Afghanistan until the end of the decade reveals senior commander as Cameron visits the frontline


Reported security incidents
#1: Afghan authorities say a suicide car bomber has attacked a NATO convoy, killing two Afghan civilians. The Farah provincial governor's spokesman Abdul Rahman Zhawandi said Saturday a man and woman on a motorcycle riding near the convoy were killed when the attacker struck Friday evening. Five civilians were wounded. Coalition forces spokesman Capt. Luca Carniel says no NATO forces were hurt in the attack, but did provide medical assistance to the wounded civilians.

#2: Elsewhere, in central Oruzgan province, police spokesman Fareed Ayal said 20 Taliban fighters and one police officer were killed in an operation late Friday.
#3: At least one person was killed and four more were injured in a rocket attack on a house located in Chief Minister Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah’s hometown, Khairpur, early on Saturday morning, Geo News reported. The police said the assailants fired a rocket at a house in Kot Daiji near Shanbani village, which killed a local landholder, Abdul Sattar Shanbani, and left four other occupants wounded.

#4: Seven Pakistani Taliban killed in by Afghan Security Forces in Nuristan province yesterday. The Taliban killed   in the Kamdish district along Durand Line when a group of them attacked on a police security post in the area. A police official in the eastern province of Nuristan said BNA; seven Pakistani nationals were killed in Kamdish district. According to him, Taliban aiming to capture Afghan security posts cross the Durand line but repulsed by Afghan forces. Security officials of Nuristan confirmed that two Afghan troops were wounded in the clash.

 
 

Posted by whisker at 4:15 AM

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