The United States and its allies have been using proxies to fight terrorism in Africa and the Middle East. The strategy allows the United States to keep a low profile in its military operations, and it can limit the number of its own troops on the ground. But a proxy war poses unique challenges.
Proxies are used when a conflict does not rise to the level of direct intervention by powerful nations, or it may be too costly to do so. Instead of sending its own forces to a country, an intervening power sends money or weapons and recruits local militias or mercenaries to do the fighting. This is a form of indirect war, and it can be effective.
Proxy war can also be effective when a powerful nation does not want to risk its own soldiers in a civil war. For example, in the conflict in Syria, the United States has backed a handful of rebel groups but has not formally entered the conflict. Its goal is to thwart the Syrian regime without escalating into a full-scale war.
A key challenge is to ensure that an intervening power maintains policy coherence and exerts near-absolute control over its proxy. This requires continuous monitoring of the proxy’s access to resources, its leadership capability (militarily and politically), and how the character of the conflict changes over time. It also involves assessing the likelihood that the proxy will pursue tactics or goals that could undermine an intervening state’s desired objectives.