美国一项名为“127e”的秘密军事项目近期浮上水面。据美国新闻网站“截击”披露，2017年至2020年，美国通过“127e”项目在全球开展至少23次代理人战争，其中至少14次发生在中东和亚太地区。这些行动无一例外利用外国军队和非正规军，针对“美方敌人”执行所谓“反恐”任务，美方则在背后为这些部队提供武器、训练和情报。
An American secret military program coded “127e” has recently come to the fore. American news website The Intercept revealed that between 2017 and 2020, US commandos conducted at least 23 separate 127e programs across the world, at least 14 of which were in the greater Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. These programs relied on foreign and irregular partner forces to carry out the so-called counterterrorism operations against America’s enemies, while the US armed, trained, and provided intelligence to those forces.
培植亲美势力、介入地区冲突、打击战略竞争对手和反美国家，已成为美国巩固霸权的惯用手段。
Fostering pro-America forces, meddling in regional conflicts, attacking strategic rivals and anti-US countries – these are the usual tricks employed by the US to maintain its hegemony.
根据“截击”网站最新获取的文件和前美国国防部高级官员的揭秘，美国多年来通过秘密授权的“127e”项目，在尼日尔、喀麦隆、埃及、黎巴嫩、叙利亚、也门、伊拉克、突尼斯等多国策动代理人战争。直至2020年，中东和亚太地区还有多项“127e”行动处于活跃状态。
According to the latest documents obtained by The Intercept website and revelations from former Pentagon senior officials, the US over the years has waged proxy wars through the secret “127e” program in many countries, including Niger, Cameroon, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Tunisia. Many 127e programs were still active in the greater Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region as recently as 2020.
美国策动代理人战争成瘾，早在冷战期间就露出端倪。“9•11”事件后，美国变本加厉，大肆在中东、西亚和非洲等地区推行代理人战略，“127e”等秘密军事项目即肇始于这一时期。至今，美国依然抱定冷战思维，在对俄问题上打代理人战争的主意。
Washington’s addiction to proxy wars showed itself during the Cold War and got worse after the 9/11attacks. Secret military programs such as “127e” were spawned in this period as the US rampantly promoted the proxy strategy in the Middle East, West Asia, Africa and other regions. Even today, the US, clinging to the Cold War mindset, is still thinking of fighting a proxy war against Russia.
广东外语外贸大学国际关系学院院长周方银表示，美国多年来策动代理人战争，已形成熟练套路，即利用大国竞争、地区摩擦、民族矛盾、宗教冲突和极端势力等多种因素，通过武器、情报、培训、资金援助等手段，扶植特定国家、反对派、雇佣军等力量，实现自身战略目标。与此同时，美国善于发动宣传攻势，把美国的代理人一方包装为“正义之师”，把插手他国内政和地区争端解释为“维护世界秩序的正义斗争”。
According to Zhou Fangyin, head of the School of International Relations, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, through decades of practice, the US has developed a system of waging proxy wars. It makes use of major-country competition, regional frictions and ethnic or religious conflicts, provides weapons, intelligence, training and funds, and supports specific countries, opposition parties and mercenaries, all to achieve its own strategic goals. At the same time, the US is good at launching publicity campaigns to dress up its proxies as the “force of justice” and its meddling in foreign countries’ internal affairs and regional disputes as “just operations preserving world order”.
复旦大学发展研究院副教授江天骄指出，相比美国直接出兵，代理人战争更具隐蔽性,而且往往因为没有经过国际法授权而游走在灰色地带，缺乏必要的监督和限制。“美国采取相对间接的渗透措施，通过扶持代理人或派遣特种部队、雇佣军等开展秘密军事行动，对国际规则的漏洞大加利用。这也符合美国在对外关系上一贯的机会主义做法。”
Jiang Tianjiao, associate professor at the Fudan Development Institute, pointed out that compared with directly sending troops, proxy war is more secretive and lacks necessary supervision and restraint, because, not authorized through international law, it usually falls in a grey zone. “The US adopts a relatively indirect approach of infiltration. It fosters proxies or assigns special operation forces or mercenaries to conduct secret military operations. It’s adept at taking advantage of loopholes in international rules, which is its traditional opportunistic approach as far as foreign relation is concerned,” he said.
此外,美国热衷于代理人战争，还有一个原因是在打低成本维护美国霸权的算盘。1955年，时任美国总统艾森豪威尔就曾宣称，“代理人战争”是“世界上最便宜的保险”。
Another reason why the US is so interested in proxy war is that it can help maintain American hegemony at a low cost. In 1955, the then US President Eisenhower called proxy war “the cheapest insurance in the world”.
周方银表示，在国际层面，美国希望借此消耗对手实力，降低美国面临的军事风险和战争开支,同时争夺对特定地区的影响力，强化美国控制，增强其他国家在安全上对美国的依赖。在国内层面，代理人战争可在一定程度上减弱美国国内的反战情绪和来自反对党的阻力，同时为政策回旋留下空间。“美国始终坚持本国利益优先，随时根据形势变化调整美国战略走向。代理人战争如果形势大好，美国就会加大力度提供支持，而一旦出现对美国不利的局面，美国随时有可能抽身退出。这一点从美国仓促撤离阿富汗可窥一斑。”
According to Zhou, on the international level, the US waged proxy wars to strain its rivals, reduce its military risks and warfare expenditure, seize influence and strengthen control over specific regions, and make other countries more dependent on it for security. Domestically, proxy wars can in a way assuage the anti-war sentiments at home, mitigate resistance from the opposition party, and leave leeway for policy maneuvering. “Always putting its own interests first, the US adjusts its strategic movement according to how the situation changes. If the proxy war goes well, it would provide more support; if anything goes against itself, it would back out any minute. America’s hurried withdrawal from Afghanistan is a perfect case in point.”
美国大打代理人战争，借机干涉他国事务，屡屡制造安全危机和人道主义灾难。周方银说，“美国已经形成一种思维，即世界上有矛盾和冲突对美国来说可能是好事，因为这能让其他国家更清楚地意识到美国军事优势的价值。因此，美国时不时会主动制造问题，以实现自己的利益。同时，美国认为借助代理人力量能够以较小代价给对手不断制造麻烦，起到牵制对手的目的，因此对代理人战争乐此不疲。”
America’s waging of proxy wars and interference in other countries’ affairs have created incessant security crises and humanitarian disasters. Zhou said, “The US has come to believe that conflict is a good thing for it because it makes other countries feel more clearly the value of its military superiority. Therefore, Washington would take the initiative to make trouble from time to time to realize its own interests. Meanwhile, it is so eager to wage proxy wars because that way it is able to contain and suppress its rivals at a relatively small price.”
Editor’s note: This article is originally published on news.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
