March 20, 2024 • 2:40 pm ET
Tony Pfaff: ‘The United States has proxies’ too
Dr. C. Anthony Pfaff is the analysis professor for technique, the army career, and ethics on the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute. A retired Army colonel and Foreign Area Officer (FAO) for the Middle East and North Africa, Pfaff has served as director for Iraq on the National Security Council. His final active-duty posting was senior military and army adviser to the State Department from 2013–2016, the place he served on the coverage planning employees advising on cyber, regional army affairs, the Arab Gulf area, Iran, and safety sector help reform.
Our MENASource editor, Holly Dagres, had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Pfaff on March 7 to debate his most up-to-date guide, Proxy War Ethics: The Norms of Partnering in Great Power Competition, and its implications for US overseas coverage.
MENASOURCE: What compelled you to jot down a guide about proxies?
DR. TONY PFAFF: Great query! This challenge initially began as a presentation for the US Naval Academy’s Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program again in 2017. The director of this system was all for exploring the subject, however there was not a lot on the time written on it. What received me was not solely that that is an under-covered space of analysis and coverage, however the lack of know-how concerning governing proxy relationships units us up for vital ethical failure and hazard.
Part of the issue is that “proxy” is commonly used pejoratively. To have a “proxy” is to be exploitive and to be a “proxy” is demeaning. The issue with that view is that “proxy” describes a construction of relationship that exists independently from the label. It would possibly make political sense to name a “proxy” an “ally,” however that doesn’t change the political actuality. So step one in understanding how you can govern these relations is knowing their construction, which is far of the primary chapter within the guide, the place I look at the variations between alliances, partnerships, and proxies.
Put merely, what differentiates proxies from different relationships is the oblique nature of the profit for the sponsor, the extra-constitutionality of the proxy, and divergent pursuits. Under such a principle-agent association, the sponsor allows the proxy to combat whereas the proxy allows the sponsor to reduce its dangers. It is just not tough to see how proxies get a foul identify. Even the place sponsors and proxies share an curiosity, they usually are usually not prepared to pay the identical worth to attain it. As a end result, the historical past of proxy wars is affected by proxies who had been “frolicked to dry” by sponsors or sponsors which can be dragged right into a quagmire, escaping from which is expensive. Perhaps extra importantly, the presence of a sponsor could make nonviolent however politically pricey alternate options to struggle much less engaging, resulting in wars that will have in any other case not occurred. So, there’s a lot to uncovering proxy relationships and making an attempt to elucidate how you can handle and govern such relationships.
MENASOURCE: Were there any issues that stunned you or actually stood out to you throughout your analysis that you weren’t conscious of?
DR. TONY PFAFF: The understanding of proxy as a construction, and exhibiting how that impacts the applying of the simply struggle custom, I believed was illuminating. Also, the ubiquity of ethical hazards recognized within the guide within the historical past of proxy wars actually underscores the necessity for extra sturdy worldwide norms. What you usually see in that historical past is that even well-meaning actors who’re prepared to self-regulate get caught up within the logic of the proxy relationship and trigger all types of hurt. The United States, for instance, did situation help to El Salvador within the Eighties on conformity to the regulation of armed battle and holding violators accountable—however these circumstances had been waived when insurgent forces achieved any degree of success. In Afghanistan, offering Stinger missiles appeared like a good suggestion—although there may be some controversy over how impactful they actually had been—till they began exhibiting up everywhere in the world.
MENASOURCE: Which international locations are the highest sponsors of proxies at the moment? Some apparent international locations come to thoughts, however I ponder if there are ones we’ve got missed.
DR. TONY PFAFF: Well, the Oscar for “Best Use of Proxies” most likely goes to Iran, which has efficiently utilized proxies to advance its nationwide safety aims, typically at little or no threat to itself, partly as a result of there may be little or no in the best way of worldwide regulation or norms—formal or casual—that might permit the worldwide neighborhood to carry it accountable. But…many worldwide actors, together with the United States, have relationships that extra resemble a proxy construction than an ally or accomplice.
So it could be naïve to have a look at US help to Ukraine or Saudi Arabia in Yemen and never depend them as some sort of proxy relationship. This doesn’t entail that the United States is unsuitable for offering this help or that Ukraine or Saudi Arabia are demeaned for accepting it. However, that help raises the sorts of issues that one would count on from a proxy relationship. While the United States and Ukraine might share an curiosity in repelling Russia’s invasion, they aren’t prepared to pay the same worth to attain it. That’s as a result of whereas these pursuits are shared, they aren’t totally aligned. So, there’s a threat that limiting US and NATO help will place Ukraine ready the place it finally ends up with the identical end result had it not fought in any respect, however at a a lot greater worth.
Having stated all that, I believe Iran’s use of proxies is way more central to the way it typically meets its safety aims, whereas for actors just like the United States and even Russia, such relationships might complement different means, however they aren’t as reliant on them because the Iranians appear to be.
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MENASOURCE: It is fascinating you point out the United States as a result of the time period “proxy” is often related to a adverse connotation. Do you assume that there’s a misunderstanding of the nomenclature?
DR. TONY PFAFF: Sometimes I really feel like the child in The Sixth Sense movie who noticed useless individuals. Except I see proxies. But as I discussed, the phrase “proxy” describes a selected construction of relationships that I distinguish from alliances and partnerships. So sure, the United States has proxies. The Russians have proxies. The Iranians have proxies. The Chinese use proxies. Ukraine is an effective instance. Saudi Arabia is an effective instance. We supported Saudi Arabia towards Houthis in Yemen for a really very long time earlier than we received straight concerned as a manner of containing Iran. That is the construction of a proxy relationship.
My level is that participating in such relationships is just not essentially exploitative or in any other case unsuitable. In this view, proxy relationships are simply one other manner actors mitigate price and threat. What issues are the norms they make use of that govern them.
So, for me, the phrase “proxy” is morally impartial. Supporting Ukraine in its combat towards Russia is a simply trigger and suits beneath the normal “simply struggle” rubric of protection of one other. However, as a result of we’re doing it not directly, we’re mitigating our personal dangers. Thus, you begin seeing these proxy dynamics creep in. For instance, why are we having discussions about terminating help to Ukraine? Because we will. In an alliance the place actors tackle comparable prices and dangers towards a typical menace, it could be a lot more durable to have that dialogue. If we had pores and skin within the recreation, if we had been preventing alongside the Ukrainians, with US troops engaged alongside the Ukrainians, quitting could be an entire lot more durable.
I don’t assume there may be something unsuitable with our help for Ukraine or Saudi Arabia, for that matter. But that help forces us to ask questions, similar to when it’s permissible to withdraw it. It additionally forces us to contemplate to what extent we’re accountable for how that help is used. When Saudi operations in Yemen raised discrimination issues, we had been arguably obligated to, and to an extent did, modify our help to handle these issues.
But it isn’t nearly regulating our actions. Absent sufficient worldwide norms, it’s tough to rein in additional abusive practices, similar to Iran’s. The drawback is conventional simply struggle principle, at the same time as it’s mirrored in worldwide regulation, doesn’t totally account for the impact the introduction of a sponsor has. Moreover, there may be little or no with which to carry sponsors accountable.
The cause accountability is vital right here is as a result of the construction of the connection steadily discourages it. For instance, Nicaragua took the United States to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its help to the Contras, who had arguably dedicated a variety of regulation of struggle violations of their resistance towards the Sandinistas. The court docket determined that as a result of no organ of the United States ordered these violations, regardless that the court docket did discover that the United States offered a handbook that appeared to advocate unlawful practices like assassination, the United States was not accountable. What is fascinating is that the handbook was supposed to rein within the Contras’ abuses.
The drawback with each these requirements is that they disincentivize sponsors to carry proxies accountable. The extra a sponsor will get concerned in making an attempt to regulate proxy conduct, the extra possible they might be accountable for it. So, it’s higher, as Iran did for Hamas, to offer sources and coaching however little else. This is why I believe extra sturdy worldwide norms could be helpful. As it stands, not solely would Iran unlikely be legally accountable for Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, 2023, or Houthi assaults towards Red Sea delivery for that matter, if the United States or Israel determined to assault Iran straight in response, they’d arguably, at the least from a authorized standpoint, be the aggressor.
MENASOURCE: Are there another examples of proxies being held accountable within the context of worldwide regulation? Given how they’re arrange, it looks as if a extremely onerous factor to do.
DR. TONY PFAFF: There are two precedents which can be often cited on this regard. One is the ICJ ruling on Nicaragua, which I simply talked about, that utilized an ordinary of “efficient management.” The different is in Yugoslavia, the place it utilized an ordinary of “general management.” There, the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia discovered that the Yugoslav authorities was accountable for Serbian Army actions in Bosnia for the reason that Serbian and Yugoslav armies successfully shared personnel, paid salaries, offered logistics, and so forth. This normal, nevertheless, principally says that for an actor to be accountable for a proxy’s motion, they beautiful a lot should assimilate them into their constitutional construction to the extent they aren’t actually a proxy anymore.
There can also be the Arms Trade Treaty, which prohibits transfers of weapons the place the exporting social gathering is aware of that the receiving social gathering will use them to “commit genocide, crimes towards humanity, grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Convention, or assaults towards civilians.” The issue right here is that Russia, Iran, or the United States are usually not events to the treaty—regardless of the very fact the United States was largely accountable for drafting the treaty—and even for many who are, enforcement is fairly weak. I ought to word that for the United States, most of the provisions within the treaty are already part of US regulation. Israel is a signatory, but it surely has but to ratify it.
MENASOURCE: What is your learn on Tehran’s use of proxies?
DR. TONY PFAFF: Well, Iran’s use of proxies is extra central to the way it operates than different comparable actors. It is just not the one factor, in fact, but it surely actually prefers uneven to symmetric means. Ballistic missiles, for instance, are additionally a safety pillar as a result of they’re onerous to defend towards.
So, Iran makes use of [proxies] as a result of they’re an effective way to mitigate price and threat, no matter their precise aims are—till they aren’t. The case of Iran truly illustrates the professionals and cons of proxy use. For instance, one among its proxies, Kata’ib Hezbollah, attacked a facility in Jordan, killing three US troopers and wounding a number of others, who had been supporting the combat towards the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). While there was a tit-for-tat trade happening for some time in Iraq and Syria, attacking US troops in Jordan was a major escalation, and one it seems Tehran didn’t intend. After the assault, Kata’ib Hezbollah put out a press release that, whereas it actually didn’t apologize for the assault, did say it could not retaliate towards any subsequent US assaults and that Tehran had no prior data of the assault. So, this might actually have been a case of a proxy dragging a sponsor right into a deeper, extra pricey battle.
MENASOURCE: Can Tehran be held accountable for its proxies?
DR. TONY PFAFF: Absent a consensus that offering help utilized in an atrocity might make one, in a roundabout way at the least, accountable for it, I’m unsure how. Of course, one can at all times impose non-lethal prices similar to sanctions and so forth, however these sometimes haven’t been efficient.
MENASOURCE: What do you assume policymakers in Washington get unsuitable about proxies?
DR. TONY PFAFF: The first half goes again to what I began speaking about firstly. Proxy refers to a selected construction and to disregard the consequences of that construction is to threat ethical failure and hazards, which I focus on intimately within the guide. Moral failure happens, for instance, when sponsors facilitate wars that won’t have in any other case wanted to occur, and particularly after they withdraw help in ways in which go away the proxy worse off for having fought within the first place. That doesn’t imply help must be open-ended or unconditioned. However, you will need to be upfront about what these limits and circumstances are so all actors could make higher knowledgeable choices.
Ukraine is a superb instance. Had we not supported it—and I’m not saying we must always not have—at worst, there could be a brand new Russia-aligned authorities in Ukraine. At greatest, Ukrainians would have been compelled to settle earlier on. They might have misplaced Donbas, they could have misplaced Crimea, however they could have been capable of come to an lodging with the Russians, and the preventing would have been over a lot sooner. The truth we supported them allowed them to proceed their combat, which made settlement much less engaging. That by itself is just not a foul factor. As I famous beforehand, they’ve a simply trigger. However, if withdrawing that help encourages or allows Russia to attain a extra full victory, then I believe there’s a ethical failure. I believe as soon as an actor gives help, it ought to proceed absent unhealthy actions by the recipient, bodily limitations of the sponsor, or a battle with the next precedence.
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Image: C. Anthony Pfaff throughout an interview with the Atlantic Council on the twentieth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq (through Atlantic Council).