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, April 24, 2013

War News for Wednesday, April 24, 2013

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Civilian casualties in Afghanistan on the rise

Afghan officials say at least 13 killed in northern flooding

Dozens Killed in Battles Across Iraq as Sunnis Escalate Protests Against Government

Iraqi Sunni mosque attacked, at least 6 killed


Reported security incidents
#1: NATO says 13 insurgents have been killed in joint operations in eastern Afghanistan. NATO's eastern command said on Wednesday that the insurgents were killed in operations that began on Tuesday. The coalition says Afghan and coalition forces killed six insurgents during a joint operation in Tagab district of Kapisa province, and seven others were killed in a separate operation run by Afghan security forces in the Hisarak district of Nangarhar province.

#2: Four children from the same family died Tuesday and another child was wounded when a bomb they were playing with exploded in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, an official told EFE. The incident occurred about 2 p.m. in the Raskai zone of Marouf district, a spokesman for the regional government, Javed Faisal, said.

#3-5: The country appears to have no respite from terrorism as nine more people were dead and dozens injured in fresh spate of bombings in Karachi and Quetta on Tuesday.

#3: Three people were killed and two dozen others wounded in a blast near the election office of MQM at People’s Chowrangi. MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned the incident and directed the coordination committee to close down the party election offices and called strike in Karachi today.

#4: Tuesday, killing six people and wounding more than 30, officials said. The attacker had attempted to drive his vehicle into Hazara Town, city police chief Zubair Mahmood said. “He detonated the vehicle when the soldiers at a paramilitary check post near the Shia neighbourhood stopped it,” the police officer said.

#5: Three blasts were also reported in the Balochistan capital in which no loss of life was reported. Earlier, three blasts occurred at different places in Quetta injuring several people.

#6: Gunmen have kidnapped nine deminers in Afghanistan's restive southern province of Kandahar, officials said on Tuesday. The men, all Afghans, were being driven back from a minefield Monday when they were seized in Maiwand district, provincial spokesman Jawid Faisal told AFP.

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