从“西贡时刻”到“喀布尔时刻”，美国历史为何总是惊人相似？
From Vietnam to Afghanistan, from Iraq to Syria... the U.S. sent its troops overseas time and again, yet almost every time it failed to change the other country for the better but left it in despair and turmoil. History always repeats itself, but why doesn't the U.S. learn from it? What is driving the U.S. behind all of these?
从越南到阿富汗，从伊拉克到叙利亚……美国一次次悍然出兵，几乎每次都没能改变当地国家的面貌，反而留下更加动荡的残局。历史总是惊人的相似，但是为何美国不吸取教训？美国屡次出兵，背后到底原因何在？
Jeffrey Sachs is Professor and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. He provided an analysis step by step when talking to CGTN host Tian Wei.
CGTN主持人田薇日前专访了哥伦比亚大学可持续发展中心主任杰夫瑞·萨克斯。萨克斯教授层层递进地分析了这背后的原因。
He said, "I think the amazing point is, if you spend a trillion dollars in another country, you expect something good to come out of that, some infrastructure, some development, some support of the population for the changes. But the United States spent almost all of that trillion dollars on military approaches. What did the U.S. leave behind in Afghanistan? Where are the hospitals? Where are the schools, where are the roads? Where is the safe child birth? Unfortunately, this is why there was no support for the U.S. -backed government, because the U.S. effort was a military effort, and unfortunately, a military effort is not a developmental effort. A military effort doesn't win the support of people. It ended up having no broad support in the population. And the result is the Taliban were able to wait and then return after $1 trillion. "
他说，“我认为，整件事让人非常吃惊的一点是，如果你在另一个国家花费上万亿美元，你期望的结果是有些向好的变化，比如能有一些基础设施，有一些发展进步，人民生活能有一些改善。可美国却把这万亿美元几乎都花在了军事手段上。美国在阿富汗留下了什么？医院在哪里？学校在哪里？道路在哪里？新生儿有没有得到安全保障？很不幸，（没留下什么）。这就是为什么美国支持的阿富汗政府得不到阿富汗民众的支持，因为美国的一切努力都在军事上，而没有在阿富汗发展上进行投入。军事上的投入是得不到民众的支持的，这一切最终没有得到广泛的阿富汗民众的支持。结果就是在美国花费了万亿巨资，塔利班却成功等到了美国撤军然后卷土重来。”
He said with emotions, "I look at this from an American point of view, and I say how stupid that policy was, not just for 20 years, but for 40 years."
他不无感情地说，“即使是我从一个美国人的角度来看阿富汗战争，我也要说，美国的阿富汗政策愚蠢至极，而且持续了不止20年，而是将近40 年。”
In the eyes of many Americans, Sachs' view can be largely politically incorrect. He responded by saying, "Because at my age, I've been at this for 41 years working all over the world. I've seen straight up Vietnam, the disaster in Cambodia. I've seen the U.S. intervention in Central America. We've seen two Gulf wars. We've seen what covert operations did to destroy Syria."
谈到自己这些在美国人看来“离经叛道”的言论，萨克斯教授回应道，“我的年纪在这。我在世界各地做研究已经41年了。我见证了越战，见证了柬埔寨经历的灾难，我见证了美国对中美洲的干预，我见证了两次海湾战争，我还看到了美国摧毁叙利亚的秘密行动。”
"It's enough. I'm so sad for my country," He said almost heartbrokenly.
“我看了太多了。我为我的国家感到难过，”他几近伤心地说。
"There's an old expression in English that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The United States has a powerful military, so everything looks like a solution for a war. And so the United States uses the military as foreign policy. But there is no foreign policy that comes out of a military. And we use the military in the Middle East, in Iraq, in Syria. We use the military in Central Asia. We use the military in Central America. We use the military in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos. Not once did this work!" He claimed.
“英语有句谚语，‘当你拿着锤子挥舞，所有东西看起来都像是钉子’。美国拥有强大的军队，所以战争看起来像是所有问题的解决方案。美国把军事手段当做外交政策，但是根本不应该有这种基于军事行动的外交政策。美国在中东、伊拉克和叙利亚使用军队，在中亚使用军队，在中美洲使用军队，在越南、柬埔寨、老挝使用军队。但每次都失败了！”萨克斯教授说。
Sachs then pointed out the deeper reason behind the U.S. thinking, "There are interests. There are corrupt contractors. There's the military industrial complex. But I actually don't think that it's that. First, I think it's a lot of the ignorance in the United States. The U.S. does not know the history and geography of the rest of the world, period. I mean period. Second, there is not in all parts of American society, but in certain parts of American society, a deep disdain for other cultures. The result of that is you don't have the ethics or the knowledge to succeed. But you do have a powerful hammer, as I said. I think that these are not interests. Nobody won in the U.S. out of Afghanistan. This has just been a tragedy, but so stupid. And that is because of ignorance. And because the American leaders never cared really about Afghanistan, and the public never cared about Afghanistan. If it's only for you, not for the people involved, it's never going to succeed."
萨克斯教授进一步指出了这背后深层次的原因，“（美国出兵）有利益存在，腐败的军队承包商和军工集团有自己的利益。但我认为他们的利益并不足以驱使美国次次犯错。这背后的原因首先我认为这一切是出于美国的无知，美国根本不了解世界其他地区的历史和地理，注意是完全没有了解。第二，美国社会中有些人对其他文化有着深深的蔑视。这样的结果就是，美国既没有道德也没有知识在这样的事情上做成功。然而与此同时，美国又像我所说，手拿大锤子。这些原因和美国的利益无关。这场美国对阿富汗的战争，美国满盘皆输。这就是一个纯粹的悲剧，一个愚蠢的悲剧。而这一切都是出于美国的无知。美国领导人也从来没有真正关心过阿富汗，美国公众也从来没有关心过阿富汗。如果美国只考虑自己，不考虑其他国家的人，美国的行动永远都不会成功。”