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, August 4, 2014

War News for Monday, August 4th, 2014


Reported security incidents
#1: A bomb killed a Pakistani religious leader and two of his guards during a celebration at a northwestern shrine on Monday, police said, as officers prepared for a militant backlash over a continuing military operation. Monday's bomb attack took place as a crowd of thousands gathered at a Sufi shrine near the city of Dera Ismail Khan where the religious leader, Faqir Jamshed, was presiding at a function.

#2: Four Afghan army soldiers were killed and four others wounded in a bomb attack in the outskirts of the national capital of Kabul on Monday morning, the Defense Ministry confirmed. "Four Afghan National Army (ANA) personnel were martyred and four wounded following a roadside bombing in southern outskirts of Kabul. The army personnel were on their routine patrol in an army armored vehicle when the incident took place at around 7:45 a.m. local time," the ministry said in a statement.

#3: Seven Uzbek terrorists and two army soldiers were killed during the clearance of the Miramshah to Datta Khel road, a military spokesperson said on Monday.

#4: Units of police in coordination with the army personnel have killed 86 Taliban militants during series of operations across the country over the past 24 hours, Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Monday.

#5: Nine armed Taliban were killed and another wounded in Kunar province last night. According to police chief of Kunar province to BNA, nine armed insurgents were killed in drone attack of foreign forces and another wounded.

#5: Two consecutive explosions inflected financial damages in Nangarhar provinces last night.

Posted by whisker at 5:57 AM

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