数说评论 | 美国海外战争：那些不为人知的数字

The last U.S. troops left Afghanistan on August 30. Looking at the land beneath, they would find few differences from 20 years ago, when America began the occupation. Bombs and attacks killing civilians in broad daylight, women and girls hiding at home.

美军最后一支部队于8月30日撤离阿富汗。如果从空中俯视，他们会发现脚下的土地与20年前美军入侵时，并无多少不同。光天化日之下炸弹轰炸平民，而妇女和儿童躲在家中。

The U.S. government claimed the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as other conflicts it’s been involved in, were in part to protect human life and freedom around the world. 

美国政府宣称阿富汗战争、伊拉克战争，及其参与的其他武装冲突，部分原因是为了保护全世界人民的生命和捍卫自由。

But behind the narratives the U.S. government would like to depict are far more complicated stories related to oil imports, arm profits and the drug economy.  

但是在美国政府的叙述视角背后，有更多更复杂的故事，与石油进口、军火利益以及毒品经济相关。

Firstly, it seems that while the U.S. did not benefit from the Iraq War directly in terms of oil imports, ensuring the free flow of Iraqi oil to world markets was essential for it to maintain its superiority.

首先，从石油进口看美国似乎并没有直接从伊拉克战争中获利，但是确保伊拉克石油在世界市场的自由流通，对美国维持其世界主导地位是至关重要的。

U.S. oil imports from Iraq did not reach the prime level of the pre-war period from 1999 to 2001. But the invasion of Iraq from 2003 to 2011 and U.S.-led intervention from 2014 to 2017 in Iraq did free up the country’s substantial oil production. Before the invasion, Iraq's domestic oil industry was fully nationalized and closed to Western oil companies. 

美国从伊拉克的石油进口量还不及1999至2001年的战前黄金水平。但是，美国2003至2011年对伊拉克的入侵和2014至2017年的持续干预的确释放了伊拉克巨大的石油生产潜力。美国入侵前，伊拉克的石油产业全面国有化，并且不对西方石油公司开放。

A decade of war later, it was largely privatized and dominated by foreign firms. ExxonMobil, the largest oil company in the United States, for example, signed a contract with South Oil Company of the Iraq Ministry of Oil in 2010, and won the right to develop one of the world's most prized untapped oil reserves. From 2003 to 2019, Iraq’s crude oil production tripled, while its exports increased almost four times. 

十年战争后，伊拉克石油产业大部分私有化且由外国公司主导。比如埃克森美孚，美国最大的石油公司，就在2010年与伊拉克石油部南方石油公司签署协议赢得开采权，从而得以开发世界上最值钱的待采油田之一。2003到2019 年间伊拉克的石油产量增加了两倍，出口量更是增加了近三倍。

Secondly, the U.S. has been the world’s top arms exporter for decades. In 2018, 43 of the top 100 arms-producing and military services companies worldwide were based in the U.S., and its share of the total top 100 arms sales was 59 percent.

第二，世界第一军火出口商的头衔美国已经戴了几十年。2018年，全球100家顶级军火生产和军事服务公司中，43家都是来自美国，他们的营业额达到了这100家公司总营业额的59%。

From 2002 to 2018, two of the top five American companies experienced a continuous accumulation of arm sales, while the overall trend of arm sales in the other three companies was rising until 2010, a year accompanied by the troop withdrawal from Iraq. 

从2002到2018年，五家顶级的美国军火公司中，两家保持了军火销售额的连续增长。其他三家的总体增长趋势，也一直持续到2010年美国从伊拉克撤军。

On the other side of large corporations are countries like Afghanistan, which placed large orders with the U.S. 

大型军火商的下家，就是像阿富汗、伊拉克和巴基斯坦这样的国家，他们与美国签订了大量军火订单。

Take Afghanistan as an example, the number of arms it imported from the U.S. between 2004 and 2020 far exceeded that from all other countries added together. From armored personnel carriers and armored patrol vehicles to helicopters and aircraft, Afghanistan had more than 25,000 orders with America. 

以阿富汗为例，从2004到2020年，它从美国进口的军火远远超过了它从其他国家进口的军火量总和。从装甲运兵车、装甲巡逻车，到直升机和飞机，阿富汗与美国签下的订单多达两万五千多个。

Thirdly, the U.S. invasion interrupted the counter-narcotic campaigns in Afghanistan, and the U.S. government failed to get the war on drugs back on track due to conflicts of interest. 

第三，美国的入侵打断了阿富汗的禁毒运动，并且由于存在利益冲突，美国政府没能将禁毒战争拉回正轨。

Afghanistan's poppy farming touched bottom in 2001, thanks to a Taliban ban the previous year as they sought international legitimacy. After the U.S. invasion, enforcement quickly broke down, the ban was lifted and the longstanding illicit economy returned. From 2015 to 2020, Afghanistan took a stunning 83 percent of global opium production.

由于前一年塔利班在寻求国际认可时下令禁止种植罂粟，阿富汗的罂粟种植量在2001年一度触底。而在美国入侵后，阿富汗的执法系统迅速崩溃，长期存在的毒品经济卷土重来，2015至2020年的全球鸦片生产中，阿富汗的份额占到令人瞠目结舌的83%。 

There were occasional reductions after 2001. But the initial objective of the U.S. invasion was never about eradicating the drugs industry in Afghanistan, and the U.S. military relied on poppy farmers who could provide intelligence, as well as warlords who were often deeply involved in the drug economy. 

在2001年后鸦片也出现了间或的减产，但是美国入侵的既定目标中，从未包含过帮助阿富汗铲除毒品产业。实际上，美国军队还要依赖种植罂粟的农民去提供相关情报，以及需要已经深入参与毒品经济的军阀的帮助。

As a result, the large-scale and vigorous counter-narcotic efforts by the U.S. and its allies may have looked good politically, but turned out to be unsustainable and futile in practice.

结果，美国及其盟友轰轰烈烈的禁毒努力也许政治上得分不错，但是实际上却是禁而未绝、徒劳无功。

No matter what kind of promising intentions the U.S. had, they have become fragile compared with the profits it gained from the wars, and yet the price was paid by civilians who deserved a peaceful life. 

不论美国承诺过的愿景有多么美好，相比在战争中获得的丰厚利润，它们便变得不堪一提，而付出代价的却是那些本应拥有和平生活的平民。

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