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, July 16, 2012

War News for Monday, July 16, 2012

NATO is reporting the death of an ISAF soldier from a non-combat related injuries in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, July 14th.
 
NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from an insurgent attack in an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan on Monday, July 16th.

Reported security incidents
#1: three Afghan men died Monday in violence in southern Afghanistan, local and NATO officials said. The Afghan men died when their car hit a roadside bomb in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq.

#2: On Sunday, three Afghan women died when the tractor they were riding hit a roadside bomb in Khakrez district of Kandahar province, said district police chief Gul Jan.

 #3: Taliban militants have attacked 12 NATO tankers carrying fuel for US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, Press TV reports. Afghan officials said that one driver was killed and four security guards were injured late on Sunday when the militants set the tankers on fire in Sayed-Abad district, Wardak province.


#4: Gunmen attacked an office of the security force's intelligence agency in northwest Pakistan Monday, taking several hostages and reportedly killing at least one officer, police said. The attack took place in the city of Bannu just outside of the militant stronghold of North Waziristan in Pakistan's rugged tribal region near the border with Afghanistan. Police official Zeenatullah Khan said police have cordoned off the building and exchanged fire with the attackers. Reports coming to police from inside the building indicate one of the officers has been killed, Zeenatullah said. The attack started around 8 a.m., and the fighting was still underway around noon local time.
 At least three policemen were killed and another three wounded in an attack launched by two militants at a police station in Pakistan's northwest city of Bannu on Monday morning, reported local Urdu TV channel Samaa.


Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/07/15/2354870/mortar-kills-woman-3-children.html#storylink=cpy
#5: A stray mortar bomb smashed through a house in a Sheikhan village, a suburb of Peshawar close to the Khyber tribal district, killing three children and their mother and injuring their father, police said. "The victims were asleep. A mother and her three children died on the spot," Shafiullah Khan, a senior police officer, told AFP. The Frontier Corps denied on Sunday firing the mortar in Bara tehsil of Khyber tribal region.


#6: A powerful blast rocked Kunduz city, the capital of northern Kunduz province 250 km north of capital Kabulon Monday, injuring three people, police said. "It was roadside bomb organized to target Nizamudin, the governor of Khan Abad district, but fortunately he escaped unhurt," a police officer Zamarai told Xinhua. However, he stated that the driver of Nizamudin along with two others sustained injuries in the blast happened at 01:40 p.m. local time.

#7: Afghan army and police, backed by NATO-led coalition forces, have eliminated three Taliban insurgents and detained 10 other suspects throughout the past 24 hours ending on Monday morning, the Afghan Interior Ministry said. "The joint operations, which intended to clear areas from the armed Taliban insurgents, were launched in Kabul, Nangarhar, Laghman, Faryab, Zabul, Wardak, Logar, Ghazni and Khost provinces," the ministry said in a statement.

DoD: Sgt. Michael E. Ristau

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