United StatesWar from a distance Droning onThe president is weighing how extensively to use drones.More civilian casualties abroad seem the likeliest outcomeDRONES HAVE BEEN a common sight in the skies above Afghanistan, but rarely had one trained its gaze on the capital, Kabul.On August 29th, as America was hastily withdrawing its remaining soldiers and Afghan refugees through the city’s airport, a drone struck a white Toyota Corolla.After the strike, General Mark Milley, America’s top military official, called it a “righteous” strike, and the Pentagon claimed it had thwarted an imminent attack on American forces.In fact no terrorists had been killed and seven of the ten victims were children.President Joe Biden broke with his former boss, Barack Obama, in withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.Like Mr Obama, he now faces a choice on how extensively to use drones to replace soldiers and pilots.Mr Biden has pledged to conduct “over-the-horizon” counterterrorism operations, chiefly using armed drones, in Afghanistan, to pursue terrorists while reducing the toll of the war on terror on Americans.Yet as the experience of Mr Obama and his successor, Donald Trump, suggests, drone strikes have hardly proved a strategic success.
美国版块战争就在不远处嗡嗡作响美国总统正在权衡使用无人机的强度。在国外，最终结果就是造成更多的平民伤亡一直以来无人机在阿富汗上空很常见，但很少将目标对准首都喀布尔。8月29日，美国匆忙从机场撤出剩余士兵和阿富汗难民时，一架无人机撞上了一辆白色的丰田卡罗拉。空袭结束后，美国最高军事官员马克・米利将军称这是一次“正义”的袭击，五角大楼（美国国防部）称其打击了对美军的迫切进攻。事实上，并没有恐怖分子被击毙，十名受害者中有七名是儿童。美国总统拜登在是否从阿富汗撤军问题上与前上司巴拉克・奥巴马决裂。和奥巴马一样，他现在面临着一个选择，需要考虑多大程度地使用无人机来取代士兵和飞行员。拜登承诺将在阿富汗开展以武装无人机为主的“超视距”反恐行动，以追捕恐怖分子，同时减少美国在反恐战争中的伤亡。然而，奥巴马和他的继任者唐纳德・特朗普的经历已经表明，无人机袭击并不是一种战略上的成功。
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