美国国家公共电台 NPR The Afghan Government Must Lead Peace Talks, Its National Security Adviser Says

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

After 18 years of war, peace in Afghanistan still seems a long way off. There are some signs of hope. There was a presidential election over the weekend. But voters were intimidated¹ and attacked, and voter turnout was really low. And last month, talks between the U.S. and the Taliban collapsed². The Afghan central government wasn't even involved in those talks. So Afghanistan's national security adviser³, Hamdullah Mohib, is in the U.S. this week to deliver a message to the international community.

HAMDULLAH MOHIB: It's time to make peace in Afghanistan. And that peace must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.

KING: He talked to Rachel about why the Afghan government supports President Trump's decision to end talks with the Taliban.

MOHIB: What I can say is it was a good decision. The Taliban were becoming considerably⁴ more arrogant⁵ than they previously⁶ were. They were preparing their victory speeches and thought that they were going to take over Afghanistan. So I think it was a blessing⁷. Now is an opportunity for us to take this issue and follow the lead of Afghan government, a partner that the United States has worked with and invested in, a country where we have made a tremendous amount of sacrifices together to build the institutions and the democratic institutions that we currently have.

RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE⁸: How would you describe the Taliban in 2019? Is it the same organization as it was when the U.S. ousted⁹ them in 2001?

MOHIB: The Taliban are a discredited¹⁰ organization now, heavily divided over power-sharing in - among themself. Some are fighting for financial gains through the narcotics¹¹ trades. Others are engaged in the illegal mining and logging in our country. Some are fighting because other countries are paying them to do so. Their narrative¹² is no longer valid¹³ in Afghanistan. They said that they were fighting a foreign invader¹⁴. That is not the case. They are fighting the Afghan people now. The only thing they have now is intimidation¹⁵. They have been targeting places of worship, weddings, roads, anywhere indiscriminately and killing¹⁶ Afghan civilians¹⁷.

MARTIN: Do you consider the Taliban a terrorist organization?

MOHIB: Their activities are definitely that of terrorist organizations.

MARTIN: You mentioned that they are a divided organization now. How can you trust that any peace that the Afghan government would be able to negotiate with the Taliban will actually have any legitimacy¹⁸, that it would actually hold if you're only negotiating with perhaps one faction¹⁹?

MOHIB: We must negotiate with those Talibans that are inside the country. There has to be a bottom-up approach. The Taliban rank and file are extremely tired of fighting. And they do want to make peace happen, but their leadership sitting in Pakistan want to have their political gains achieved. So I think one of the ways we can achieve peace in our country is by negotiating directly with commanders on the ground and bringing them into the fold of a peace agreement.

MARTIN: You have in the past been very critical of Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan leading the U.S. negotiations²⁰ with the Taliban. You accused the U.S. of wanting to install a, quote, "caretaker government," that Khalilzad would govern, that he would become a, quote, "viceroy" - that's your word. Do you still believe that to be true?

MOHIB: First of all, my criticism was not personal, but rather of a policy that we thought was not going to result in peace in Afghanistan. And even when I spoke²¹ at the time, it was a matter of perception because the Afghan government was not fully²² briefed at the time - or at least we perceived that we were not fully briefed at the time - that those perceptions were taking shape and replacing the facts. We have improved our relationship since then. Information has become better before the talks failed. Of course, that's - even though we...

MARTIN: You believe Ambassador Khalilzad to be an honest broker²³?

MOHIB: Look, what we are focused on this point here is peace in Afghanistan. And it's not about individuals. And we know that the American people, from my own experience here, care deeply about what happens in Afghanistan.

MARTIN: You mentioned, when we talked about the divided nature of the Taliban, your own Afghan central government, though, has been divided. Ashraf Ghani didn't win an outright²⁴ majority in the last election. And there was no outright winner in this weekend's national elections. Considering that ambiguity²⁵ and the fact that we won't know who comes out on top for, perhaps, several months, that there might need to be a runoff election, does that dilute²⁶ the power of the Afghan government in potential negotiations with the Taliban?

MOHIB: Democracy is not perfect anywhere in the world, right? And Afghanistan is no exception. I think the American people would sympathize with that. But our competition or disagreements are on ballots²⁷, not in bullets. I think the difference here is the Taliban are killing the Afghan people. The disagreements between the Afghan politicians is a political discourse²⁸ that is on Afghan TVs and in media.

They are not fighting each other literally²⁹. And as a result of them, Afghans are not dying. If the elections are messy, I think you could plug any other country that is democratically run, and the situation would be no different. I think it's an unfair comparison to the Taliban, who are violently terrorizing the Afghan people and are not delivering services to our people. The places they control are completely intimidation.

MARTIN: In light of all those differences, though, are you truly optimistic that an Afghan-led peace deal can actually happen?

MOHIB: Absolutely. And for that peace to be achieved, there must be a consensus³⁰. If a peace is achieved that integrates one part of the society but alienates³¹ another, the war will continue. So what we are working on is an inclusive peace, which will include all of Afghans.

MARTIN: Hamdullah Mohib, national security adviser to Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani, speaking to us on the line from New York. Thank you so much for your time.

(SOUNDBITE OF FAZER'S "HARLESDEN")

MOHIB: Thank you for having us.

1 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 considerably   

adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上

参考例句：

• The economic situation has changed considerably.经济形势已发生了相当大的变化。
• The gap has narrowed considerably.分歧大大缩小了。

5 arrogant   

adj.傲慢的，自大的

参考例句：

• You've got to get rid of your arrogant ways.你这骄傲劲儿得好好改改。
• People are waking up that he is arrogant.人们开始认识到他很傲慢。

6 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

7 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

8 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。

9 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

10 discredited   

不足信的，不名誉的

参考例句：

• The reactionary authorities are between two fires and have been discredited. 反动当局弄得进退维谷，不得人心。
• Her honour was discredited in the newspapers. 她的名声被报纸败坏了。

11 narcotics   

n.麻醉药( narcotic的名词复数 )；毒品；毒

参考例句：

• The use of narcotics by teenagers is a problem in many countries. 青少年服用麻醉药在许多国家中都是一个问题。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Police shook down the club, looking for narcotics. 警方彻底搜查了这个俱乐部，寻找麻醉品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

13 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

14 invader   

n.侵略者，侵犯者，入侵者

参考例句：

• They suffered a lot under the invader's heel.在侵略者的铁蹄下，他们受尽了奴役。
• A country must have the will to repel any invader.一个国家得有决心击退任何入侵者。

15 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

16 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

17 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。

18 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

19 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

20 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。

21 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。

22 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

23 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

24 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

25 ambiguity   

n.模棱两可；意义不明确

参考例句：

• The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
• Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。

26 dilute   

vt.稀释，冲淡；adj.稀释的，冲淡的

参考例句：

• The water will dilute the wine.水能使酒变淡。
• Zinc displaces the hydrogen of dilute acids.锌置换了稀酸中的氢。

27 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

28 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

29 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

30 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

31 alienates   

v.使疏远( alienate的第三人称单数 )；使不友好；转让；让渡（财产等）

参考例句：

• The new teacher alienates the children by behaving prissily. 这位新老师因表现拘谨而疏远了学生。 来自互联网
• What alienates him from the house? 什么东西使他远离这所房子呢？ 来自互联网