美国有线新闻 CNN 因袭击致一名美军身亡 特朗普叫停与塔利班和谈

 

First story takes us to Afghanistan, a nation in South Asia that's been racked by war for decades and whose future even now is unclear. U.S. President Donald Trump¹ has called off peace talks with the Taliban. And to explain why that's significant, we're taking a look at the three major players — the Taliban, the United States and the Afghan government. First, the Taliban — it's an Islamic militant² group that used to rule Afghanistan. After taking control in 1996, the Taliban established its strict interpretation³ of Islamic law in the country and allowed terrorist groups like Al-Qaida to live and operate there. The United States faced off with the Taliban in 2001. After Al-Qaida carried out the September 11th attacks on America, the U.S. demanded that the Taliban turn over Al-Qaida and its leader.

The Taliban refused and the U.S. led a group of countries to remove the Taliban from power. That happened quickly, but Afghanistan has remained unstable⁴ and thousands of American troops have been stationed there ever since though their number has increased and decreased over the years. Today there are about 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan. The country held its first democratic elections in 2004 and it's had a couple more since, but the Afghan government is fragile. The Taliban never went away and they've continued their violent attacks throughout the country, including one the killed an American soldier last Thursday.

Before that happened, the U.S. government was scheduled to hold secret peace negotiations⁵ with the Taliban — talks that some officials indicated could lead to U.S. troops leaving Afghanistan. After the bombing though, President Trump called off the meeting though both the U.S. and Afghan governments have left the door open for more negotiations. On the ground in Afghanistan, a CNN team was allowed to enter Taliban-controlled territory earlier this year. They found that the militant group hasn't changed much. The Taliban is still very strict and it still wants to be cut off from the rest of the world.

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 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 interpretation   

n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理

参考例句：

• His statement admits of one interpretation only.他的话只有一种解释。
• Analysis and interpretation is a very personal thing.分析与说明是个很主观的事情。

4 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

5 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。