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, May 12, 2014

War News for Monday, May 12, 2014

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF contracted-civilian from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, May 10th.
 
The Military is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injury in an undisclosed location in northern Afghanistan on Sunday, May 11th.


Reported security incidents
#1: Two rockets landed just outside the heavily guarded airport, U.S.-led coalition reported four rockets hit the U.S.-run Bagram Airbase near capital. No one was killed.

Militants fired rockets at the Kabul International Airport and Bagram airfield in central Parwan province on Monday, causing no casualties, an official said. Two rockets fell near the runway and terminal of the Kabul airport at 5:00am on Monday, a security official said on condition of anonymity. Operations were suspended for an hour, he said. Separately, three rockets were fired from Baltokhel and Anbakhel areas into the Bagram airfield in Parwan, the provincial police

#2: Fighters also stormed a government building in the eastern province of Nangahar, killing two policemen and two government workers, said Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the provincial police chief. The three attackers were killed, he added.

Taliban fighters opened fire and stormed a government building in eastern Afghanistan in the most serious of a string of attacks across the country early on Monday, May 12. Following the attack, police surrounded the provincial justice ministry building in the city of Jalabad and were engaging in sporadic exchanges of gunfire with the militants inside, said General Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the provincial police chief of Nangarhar province.

Seven people were killed as Taliban insurgent members targeted a government agency building in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar on Monday, sources said.

#3: Also on Monday in eastern in Afghanistan, groups of militants, including some on motorbikes, attacked police checkpoints, killing three people and wounding eight. The attacks happened on the outskirts of the city of Ghazni in the province by the same name, said deputy provincial governor, Mohammad Ali Ahmadi. Two women and a policeman were killed, while two policemen and six civilians, including three children, were wounded, added Ahmadi.

#4: Elsewhere in Jalalabad, attackers targeted a police vehicle and detonated a roadside bomb, wounding six people, including two policemen.

#5: Seven police were shot dead early Monday as a security checkpoint came under attack in Sangin district of southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, an official said. "The militants launched an attack on Katawaz police checkpoint. They killed two officers who were on duty. Five other sleeping police cops were shot and killed in their bed overnight," the district governor, Sulaiman Shah Sarwawani, told Xinhua.

#6: At least 47 Taliban militants were killed following military operations conducted by Afghan national security forces in the past 24 hours.

#7: Deputy Minister of Information and Culture Musadiq Khalili survived an explosion on Monday, but two of his bodyguards were wounded in the attack on Monday. Interior Ministry spokesman Siddique Siddiqui said the blast took place at around 10:30am in the Astalif district of Kabul. He said the deputy minister’s vehicle struck the roadside bomb on the way to the scenic town north of the capital. His guards were slightly wounded.

#8: According to Pakistani security officials, unknown gunmen torched at least truck carrying NATO armoured vehicles in Peshawar city of Pakistan. The officials further added that the incident took place on Sunday night near Ring Road in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot police station. A local police official said the watchman was initially taken hostage by the gunmen and then set three truck on fire.

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