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


Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Update for Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction reports that the U.S. military has shown little interest in addressing widespread sexual abuse of children by Afghan forces that the U.S. trains and equips. Excerpt:

“The full extent of child sexual assault committed by Afghan security forces may never be known,” the report from Sigar said. But two-thirds of the individuals and organisations interviewed for the recently declassified report said they were aware of “child sexual assault incidents or related exploitation by Afghan security forces”, the watchdog said.
Full report available here. (PDF)

Gunmen storm the Save the Children office in Jalalabad, killing 3 and injuring 25. The attackers are killed in a 10 hour battle.

U.S. deploys a dozen A-10s to Afghanistan to provide close air support and attack narcotics facilities. "Along with the Thunderbolt squadron, additional aircraft will be moved to Kandahar Airfield, including MQ-9 Reapers that provide armed over-watch and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of the battlefield, and HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters, to conduct personnel recovery and search and rescue."



Suicide bomber attacks a Shia mosque in Ghor, killing 10 and injuring 20.

Four police and six Taliban killed in a firefight in Ghazni.

State Dept. confirms that U.S. citizens were killed in attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on Saturday, but does not provide further information.



Posted by Cervantes at 8:23 AM

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