美国国家公共电台 NPR--What did Afghans gain — and lose — in a region that supported the Taliban?

What did Afghans gain — and lose — in a region that supported the Taliban?

Transcript¹

People of Afghanistan's Tangi Valley celebrated² the Taliban takeover one year ago. Now, what do they want from their government?

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The way the Taliban takeover looks depends on where you are in Afghanistan. We looked at the aftermath in an area where many people fought for the Taliban.

You see one side of Afghanistan here in Kabul, a city of millions with crowded streets and neighborhoods that go up the sides of a mountain valley. We're heading to see a different side of Afghanistan, though, rural Afghanistan, where the conditions and the politics are very different.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NAAZ AO NAKHRE")

NOOR MOHAMMAD KOCHI: (Singing in Pashto).

INSKEEP: We drove Highway 1 south out of Kabul into Wardak province.

Really stark³ landscape, dry mountains, a bit greener down here in the valley. Sometimes we go through groves⁴ of trees near the riversides. Every so often, we slowed down to maneuver⁵ past broken pavement. Those are the places where the Taliban set bombs on the road throughout a 20-year war.

We'll try not to crash into this bus that's swerving⁶ around the hole in the road.

About 50 miles outside Kabul. We entered another world. Turning left into the Tangi Valley. Our producer, Fazelminallah Qazizai, says this valley was once the stronghold of a Taliban commander.

FAZELMINALLAH QAZIZAI, BYLINE⁷: There was a famous incidence that he - when killed some American soldier, then put the legs and arms of some of them in the trees. So anyone driving to the valley could see them.

INSKEEP: Hung them from these trees we're passing now?

QAZIZAI: Hung them, yes. Yes.

(SOUNDBITE OF WATER FLOWING)

INSKEEP: We drove up into the valley, where water flows through irrigation ditches, sustaining crops of apricots, peaches, potatoes and tomatoes. Between the tidy green fields, people live in mud-walled homes...

(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CREAKING)

INSKEEP: ...And a man named Morsalin welcomed us into his guest room. He's well-off, with a black turban and solar panels on the roof to power his well. He's decorated this room with a poster showing photos of Taliban leaders, including that famous commander, Fazal Rabi.

He's holding the leg of an American soldier?

MORSALIN: Yes.

QAZIZAI: And this is his brother.

INSKEEP: And this is Fazal Rabi.

MORSALIN: It was leader of American - first (ph).

INSKEEP: It would be hard to prove the leg in that picture was from an American. U.S. troops try never to leave their dead behind. But the Taliban did kill Americans in this valley, once shooting down a helicopter with 38 people on board. Americans also killed many Taliban, including the famous commander and his successor and his successor.

Every man on this poster is dead.

QAZIZAI: Yes.

INSKEEP: We sat on the floor with surviving Taliban fighters.

(SOUNDBITE OF GUNFIRE)

INSKEEP: One of them took out his phone and showed us old video of American soldiers firing into this same valley. It is video taken from an American base where troops seem to be shooting indiscriminately at a village. The fighter is Hadiatullah Wahadat.

HADIATULLAH WAHADAT: (Through interpreter) Yes, I did jihad against the U.S. forces, and for five times I was wounded during the fight.

INSKEEP: He says he fought for years in this valley and beyond, wherever they sent him. He fought Americans. He fought the old Afghan government and even the Taliban's enemies in the Islamic State.

What do you feel that you won in the end?

WAHADAT: (Speaking Pashto).

INSKEEP: He said, "we expelled foreigners. We won a triumph. And we achieved an Islamic government." They also captured U.S.-made weapons, like the pistol he showed me.

Smith and Wesson.

QAZIZAI: Yeah.

INSKEEP: Springfield, Mass., USA.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOTORBIKE)

INSKEEP: The former Taliban fighters took us farther up the valley to one of their many shrines⁸ to the dead. Fazal Rabi, the famous commander, is buried in a cemetery⁹ on a dusty hilltop overlooking his valley. Morsalin, our host, buried his own brother beside him.

Fazal Rabi is here. And this is your brother?

MORSALIN: Yes.

INSKEEP: How many of your brothers died in the war?

MORSALIN: Two.

INSKEEP: Two brothers?

KOCHI: Yes.

INSKEEP: That's a big price to pay.

MORSALIN: Yes. Yes.

INSKEEP: When you think back, was the sacrifice worth it?

MORSALIN: Yes. Why no?

QAZIZAI: Why not?

MORSALIN: Why not?

INSKEEP: The desert sun was beating down, so we sat on the covered porch of a little white mosque¹⁰ by the cemetery.

When the Americans came and then stayed, they talked about democracy and freedom for Afghanistan. Does democracy mean anything to you?

MORSALIN: (Speaking Pashto).

INSKEEP: He said, "democracy comes from man, and Islam comes from God, so Islam is better." The idea that democracy and Islam could be compatible, that the old Afghan government was an Islamic republic was not the way that he thought about it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ENGINE STARTING)

INSKEEP: Later, we drove down out of the valley with Hekmatullah Waqid, a local journalist. He said people in this valley celebrated one year ago when the Taliban took power, but now attitudes are changing.

HEKMATULLAH WAQID: The people of village are not very happy.

INSKEEP: For two big reasons.

WAQID: Not happy for economical problems and girls' education.

INSKEEP: So people in this valley want their girls to go to school?

WAQID: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

INSKEEP: Unlike the old government, the Taliban have not let many girls return to school. They now face democratic pressure - calls from the public, from the media, even from religious scholars - to let girls study.

(SOUNDBITE OF HORNS HONKING)

INSKEEP: We drove on and stopped at a village a little way outside the valley, back along Highway 1. In war time, the Taliban planted bombs on the roadside here. So according to residents, the old Afghan government bulldozed much of the village.

QAZIZAI: Salaam¹¹ alaikum. Hello.

SHERIF NAZARI: Hello.

INSKEEP: One of the remaining residents came out of his mud-walled house. Sherif Nazari told us he's glad that peace has come, but he added that he's out of work.

NAZARI: I was engineer - a road engineer.

INSKEEP: Nobody has hired this road engineer to fix the battered¹² highway that passes by.

What do you want from the government, if anything?

NAZARI: (Speaking Pashto).

INSKEEP: He says, "the government should pay to rebuild this village." Once, he might have demanded that from the United States and its Afghan allies. Now the U.S. and the old republic are gone, meaning, if anybody pays, it would be the Taliban. The old saying holds that to the victors go the spoils. And that may be true, though something else went to the victors in Afghanistan. They also faced the expectations of the people and the responsibility of governing if they can.

(SOUNDBITE OF QAIS ESSAR'S "UNTITLED")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

4 groves   

树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The early sun shone serenely on embrowned groves and still green fields. 朝阳宁静地照耀着已经发黄的树丛和还是一片绿色的田地。
• The trees grew more and more in groves and dotted with old yews. 那里的树木越来越多地长成了一簇簇的小丛林，还点缀着几棵老紫杉树。

5 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

6 swerving   

v.（使）改变方向，改变目的( swerve的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• It may stand as an example of the fitful swerving of his passion. 这是一个例子，说明他的情绪往往变化不定，忽冷忽热。 来自辞典例句
• Mrs Merkel would be foolish to placate her base by swerving right. 默克尔夫人如果为了安抚她的根基所在而转到右翼就太愚蠢了。 来自互联网

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 shrines   

圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。
• Their palaces and their shrines are tombs. 它们的宫殿和神殿成了墓穴。

9 cemetery   

n.坟墓，墓地，坟场

参考例句：

• He was buried in the cemetery.他被葬在公墓。
• His remains were interred in the cemetery.他的遗体葬在墓地。

10 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

11 salaam   

n.额手之礼，问安，敬礼；v.行额手礼

参考例句：

• And the people were so very friendly:full of huge beaming smiles,calling out "hello" and "salaam".这里的人民都很友好，灿然微笑着和我打招呼，说“哈罗”和“萨拉姆”。
• Salaam is a Muslim form of salutation.额手礼是穆斯林的问候方式。

12 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。