美国国家公共电台 NPR--A Biden administration review faults Trump for the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan

A Biden administration review faults Trump¹ for the chaotic² withdrawal³ from Afghanistan

Transcript⁴

A Biden administration review of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan blames the Trump administration for the lack of preparedness.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

On August 30, 2021, the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. As U.S. aircraft lifted off of the tarmac in Kabul, desperate Afghans clung to the plane. More than 100 Afghan civilians⁵ and 13 U.S. service members were killed in a bombing, and the exit left a vacuum that the Taliban swiftly filled. Congress will receive a detailed⁶ review of what happened during the two weeks that ended the two-decades-long war. The public has a 12-page summary.

Here to talk about the findings from that report is White House correspondent Franco Ordo?ez. Good morning.

FRANCO ORDO?EZ, BYLINE⁷: Good morning, Leila.

FADEL: So what does the Biden administration say about what went wrong?

ORDO?EZ: I mean, it doesn't say that much. I mean, the administration did acknowledge that they should have moved more quickly to get Americans and Afghans' allies out of Kabul. They also acknowledged that they didn't have the best intelligence about how quickly the Afghan national security forces would fold. But really, Leila, it places more blame on the previous administration for not planning a proper withdrawal.

I spoke⁸ with John Gans. He's a former Pentagon official who has written about White Houses during times of war, and he says it is true that Trump left them in a very bad situation in regards to Afghanistan, but that the report is also more of a positive take on the Biden administration and doesn't really shine much of a light on where it fell short.

JOHN GANS: It did not take an active security clearance⁹ to know that the Trump administration had made a complete hash of the U.S. government and its engagement with Afghanistan. It did not take an active security clearance to understand that the Afghan army was in difficult straits.

ORDO?EZ: You know, but, of course, no president likes to talk about their failures, and Gans called it a bipartisan tradition.

FADEL: OK. If Biden felt rushed or unprepared, why didn't he keep troops there longer or send in more?

ORDO?EZ: I mean, the administration is really walking a fine line here. I mean, some top leaders testified to Congress soon after that they had recommended Biden keep 2,500 troops in Afghanistan. One general said pulling out troops would inevitably¹⁰ lead to the collapse¹¹ of Afghan forces, which is obviously what happened. But in its report, the Biden administration argues that staying longer or sending more troops would not have changed their trajectory¹². And Biden has made clear, as we know, early on, that he was not going to hand off the war in Afghanistan to a fifth president.

FADEL: So it sounds like the plan was to leave no matter what. But this was an incredibly expensive war financially, but also in the loss of life and destruction of people's lives. And it feels like Afghanistan is back where it was. What did this war accomplish?

ORDO?EZ: Yeah. I mean, it's a really tough question, especially for a lot of veterans. You know, national security spokesman John Kirby was asked about this yesterday at the White House briefing, and he says Americans did not serve in vain. He talked about accomplishing the original mission and how objectives evolved.

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JOHN KIRBY: Just because the mission changed over time under previous administrations and leadership and scenarios¹³ doesn't mean that anybody who served in Afghanistan doesn't have something to be proud of, doesn't have service to this country that they can take with them the rest of their lives and feel honorable about it.

ORDO?EZ: You know, and he emphasized that Biden and the first lady understand and respect their service.

FADEL: Now, this was America's longest war and this report was highly anticipated. Will it bring any closure?

ORDO?EZ: You know, I don't know. I mean, House Republicans - probably not. House Republicans already started their own probe of the withdrawal. And it's going to be more critical than this. And, you know it's going to be an issue in the 2024 election.

FADEL: NPR's Franco Ordo?ez, thank you.

ORDO?EZ: Thank you.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

3 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

4 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。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• 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。

6 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

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 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

10 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

11 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

12 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

13 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓