The U.S. Army Special Operations Forces are the key to fighting competition such as China and Russia. These specially trained units host more than just counterterrorism by offering knowledge to officials. This can be used to help avoid armed conflict and fight by molding partners and rivals with support and dissuading procedures. Recent writing and reports have highlighted the operations of special forces in the “gray zone” between war and peace. These describe efforts of tactical advantages used to help quell an adversary.
Source: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/how-win-asymmetric-war-era-special-forces-87601