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


Thursday, August 23, 2012

War News for Thursday, August 23, 2012



Pakistan black marketers cheer NATO supply reopening

Turkish soldiers kill 16 PKK militants after convoy attack

32 killed as flood wreaks havoc in Pakistan


Reported security incidents
#1: Officials in Pakistan say militants have shot dead three police officers in Pakistan's troubled northwest. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killings, but police said Taliban militants are suspected. Police said the militants fired on a patrol and fled. The attack occurred in the Hangu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, along the Afghan border.

#2: An Afghan army vehicle has hit a roadside bomb in northern Afghanistan, killing three Afghan soldiers and wounding three others. Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the Afghan National Police in northern Afghanistan, says the explosion occurred around 3 a.m. Thursday as the soldiers were patrolling in Baghlan province.

#3: According to local security officials in eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, heavy casualties were incurred to Taliban militants following clashes with the local residents in this province. Provincial National Directorate of Security NDS chief Syed Amir Shah Sadat confirming the report said clashes between Taliban militants and local residents started after Taliban attacked villagers of Koh-Nesf in Andar district. Mr. Sadat further added local residents clashed with the Taliban militants which continued for several hours. He said dead bodies of two Taliban militants among several killed or injured were left in the area.

#4: Afghan police have killed over a dozen Taliban militants and arrested 11 others during series of operations over the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said in a statement released here on Thursday. "Units of police in conjunction with the national army and the NATO-led coalition force during series of cleanup operations in Kabul, Kunduz, Kapisa, Kandahar, Logar, Zabul and Ghazni provinces have killed 15 Taliban militants and arrested 11 others over the past 24 hours," said the statement. However, it did not say if there were any casualties on the security forces.

#5: According to local authorities in northern Parwan province of Afghanistan, a convoy of the NATO-led International Coalition Security Forces struck with a roadside improvised explosive device in this province. The officials further added the exact details regarding the casualties as a result of the today’s incident are not known yet. The incident took place early Thursday morning in Khanqa area in Bagram district. Bagram district chief Abdul Shakoor Qudoosi said the incident took place while NATO troops were patrolling in the area. He said a vehicle of the NATO troops was damaged following the blast.

Posted by whisker at 4:35 AM

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