CNN 2010-11-23

Oh, right. I’m back. We are grateful for that introduction and we're grateful you're checking out CNN Student News today. We have a very short week for you this week -- just two shows -- so let's go ahead and get them started.

First up, figuring out a way forward in Afghanistan: the focus of a NATO meeting this past weekend. NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's a group of nearly 30 countries; its main goal is to keep those countries safe and free. That is why the alliance is taking part in the Afghanistan war. That conflict seems to be getting more intense. The U.S. is sending a group of battle tanks -- like the ones you see here -- to Afghanistan for the first time since the war started. This is an escalation¹ of the war, and it'll give U.S. troops more firepower in their fight against the Taliban. Suzanne Malveaux covered this NATO meeting. She explains the leaders there weren't focused so much on the present as they are on the future.

It's the closest thing to an exit strategy President Obama could get.

We agreed that early 2011 will mark the beginning of a transition to Afghan responsibility, and we adopted the goal of Afghan forces taking the lead for security across the country by the end of 2014.

U.S. and NATO troops remaining in Afghanistan would be focused on training Afghan security forces. Afghan leader Hamid Karzai signed the pact² earlier with NATO allies, expressing optimism.

We are confident that the transition will succeed to the Afghan authority, leadership and ownership.

But the agreement is, at best, a goal. Privately³, there is real skepticism that the Afghan government will be ready to provide security and services to its people. The new NATO agreement bluntly states for the Afghan government, corruption⁴ remains⁵ a central challenge to be addressed.

We must be guided by realities, not schedules.

Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev also suggested Afghanistan may not be ready.

Whether it's feasible in the forthcoming future, I don't know. I have some doubts on that.

President Obama himself seemed to leave the door open about whether U.S. troops would still be fighting in Afghanistan after 2014. When asked if he'd keep U.S. combat troops there after the proposed deadline, he said:” So I will always do what's necessary to keep the American people safe, and maybe that will be the case in 2014.” But President Obama is eager to get U.S. forces out of this unpopular war. He has already pledged to start pulling out American troops in July of next year. NATO allies are even less patient.

By the end of next year, we have set the goal to have 300,000 Afghan soldiers and Afghan police.

Several countries have already said their troops will not remain in combat indefinitely. A senior British official said British Prime Minister David Cameron repeated here that no matter how violent Afghanistan is at the end of 2014, the British will end combat operations by the next year.

1 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

2 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。