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


Tuesday, November 11, 2014

War News for Tuesday, November 11, 2014


Troops from Hungary, Iceland, Ireland and Italy leaves Afghanistan


Reported security incidents
#1: The gunfight erupted overnight at a checkpost of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) in Shireendara area of Orakzai district, one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal regions on the Afghan border. “More than 50 militants attacked the checkpost. Two soldiers embraced shahadat [martrydom] while 15 terrorists were killed in an exchange of fire,” a senior security official told AFP. He said six soldiers also sustained injuries in the attack, adding that the militants fled after the FC troops retaliated.

#2: Elsewhere, one soldier was killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their vehicle in the northwestern town of Bannu on Tuesday, a security official said.

#3: Separately, a bomb planted on a roadside in restive Bajaur tribal district’s Chargoo village bordering Afghanistan killed two tribal security force personnel and wounded three others, local government official Sohail Khan told AFP.

#4: At least 10 militants were killed overnight after Afghan army helicopters carried out an airstrike in Kunduz province, an official said on Tuesday.

#5: At least three security personnel who were guarding a polio vaccination team were killed today in a bomb blast in Pakistan's northwestern tribal region.

#6: Jalalabad capital of Nangarhar province came under rocket attack this morning, leaving at least one civilian dead and three others injured.

#7: At least 19 Taliban militants were killed and 11 others were injured following military operations in the past 24 hours.

Posted by whisker at 3:38 AM

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