2007年VOA标准英语-US Senators Question Administration Strategy fo
时间:2019-02-02 作者:英语课 分类:2007年VOA标准英语(三月)
Washington
09 March 2007
watch Afghanistan Strategy report
U.S.-led coalition 1 forces in eastern Afghanistan say they have captured a bomb-making expert with links to al-Qaida. The capture of Mullah Mahmood in Jalalabad follows an increase in attacks last year on coalition forces and civilians 2. A U.S. Senate committee questioned what one senator called a failure of the Bush administration's polices in Afghanistan. The VOA's Jim Fry reports:
In Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, NATO targets Taleban insurgents 3 in an offensive launched this week and dubbed 4 Operation Achilles.
On a road in Kandahar -- a suicide bomber 5 attacked a Canadian convoy 6, wounding five civilians. And U.S. officials say there has been an increase in bombings and a resurgence 7 of Taleban and al-Qaida operations in the last year.
Such developments worry members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman Joseph Biden, who said, "The last year has been the bloodiest 8 since the ouster of the Taleban."
Another senator, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, questioned Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher: "That strikes me as a pretty profound failure of our policies. Do you agree?"
Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher
Boucher replied, "We are there. We are trying to meet them. And I think we are better set up this year to deal with that than we were in previous years."
Q. "What does it say about our policies--"
A. "It says we have not finished the job."
Boucher says NATO has increased its presence in the country to 23,000 soldiers. The U.S. troop number is up by 3,300 this year -- also now at 23,000.
Military and government leaders say a NATO-led offensive in the south last year turned back challenges by the Taleban.
"We stopped them from achieving their goals last year," said Boucher. "But we have not established dominance or got them on the run yet."
Boucher says the Bush administration is seeking $2 billion from Congress this year for new roads and other reconstruction 9 in Afghanistan. Attention also is turning to Afghanistan's lucrative 10 poppy crop.
The U.S. claims that more than 90 percent of the world's opium 11 comes from those fields. NATO forces will try to eradicate 12 narcotics 13 crops, but Boucher says much more help is required.
"You have to build a different rural economy. So it is not [that] you give them a different crop. It is: You give them a road and electricity and irrigation."
As winter turns to spring, there is concern now that the Taleban and al-Qaida will launch new military offensives from the eastern mountains and in the south. U.S. officials insist coalition forces are more capable this year.
Boucher told the senators, "The enemy's been spending the winter building bombs and designing tactics. It is going to be nasty. It is going to be difficult but I think we are better able to cope."
Senators on the Foreign Relations Committee expressed skepticism. But with terrorist and Taleban forces still present in the country, the U.S. lawmakers say failure is unthinkable.
- The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
- Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。
- the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
- At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后,至少有300名平民下落不明。
- The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子,这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网