A senior U.S. defense official says American forces in Afghanistan are working more closely with the Afghan military to try to reduce civilian casualties.
美国国防部一名高级官员说，驻阿富汗美军正在与阿富汗军队密切合作，以期减少平民伤亡。
The Under Secretary for Policy, Michele Flournoy, told a gathering at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tuesday the defense department is "deeply concerned" about civilian casualties from coalition attacks in Afghanistan. In recent months, there have been several attempts to improve targeting and communications, and to quickly investigate incidents and compensate the victims or their families.
主管政策的国防部副部长米歇尔.弗卢努瓦星期二在战略与国际研究中心对与会者说，国防部对联军在阿富汗的攻击行动中造成的平民伤亡表示“深切关注”。近几个月来，他们已经多次在攻击目标和通讯方面做出改进，并且对发生的事件迅速进行调查，给受害人或者他们的家人做出赔偿。
Now, Flournoy says, a new element has been added.
弗卢努瓦谈到了一个新的作法。
"One of the things that's happened in recent weeks is a number of steps that we have worked out with the Afghan Ministry of Defense and the Afghan military to try to more fully integrate Afghans into every aspect of our operations, from intelligence to planning to actual execution, so that we have the benefit of Afghan expertise, knowledge, sensitivities, etc. in what we're doing, and that includes the most sensitive kinds of direct action that we are undertaking against extremist elements,"said Michele Flournoy.
“最近几个星期的动作之一，就是我们采取了一系列步骤，和阿富汗国防部以及阿富汗军队携手合作，努力将阿富汗人更为全面地纳入我们从情报到制订具体行动的各个操作层面。这样一来，我们可以在行动中受惠于阿富汗人的专长、知识和敏感度，包括我们在打击极端分子时最为敏感的直接行动。”
Flournoy is one of the architects of President Barack Obama's new strategy for fighting violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
弗卢努瓦是奥巴马总统打击阿富汗和巴基斯坦的暴力极端分子新战略的制定者之一。
She said Tuesday the United States supports efforts by the Afghan government to reconcile with some of the militants, but she said that plan will likely not get very far until coalition forces make some gains against the Taliban and allied groups.
她星期二表示，美国支持阿富汗政府在与一些武装分子和解方面做出的努力。但是她说，在联军部队打击塔利班和其同盟组织取得某些进展之前，不大可能大力推动那项计划。
The additional 17,000 U.S. troops heading to Afghanistan during the next couple of months are to help do that. But Flournoy stressed that the additional troops will also be training Afghan forces to take over the job as soon as possible.
今后两个月被增派到阿富汗的1万7千名美军会在这方面提供帮助。但是弗卢努瓦强调，增派的部队还将为阿富汗军队提供培训，让他们尽快接管这些工作。
Speaking at Harvard University on Tuesday, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Iraq and the entire region, General David Petraeus, said the American people and the congress will want an assessment of how things are going with the new strategy by the end of this year.
美军在阿富汗、伊拉克和整个地区的总指挥官彼得雷乌斯将军星期二在哈佛大学演讲时说，美国人民和国会将在今年年底对这个新战略的进展情况做出评价。
"We literally are going to have to make that kind of assessment, probably the first one, by the end of this year," said General Petraeus. "We are going to put substantial additional resources in this year in terms of military, financial and civilians. We do believe that we can achieve progress, but it's going to get worse before it gets better, just as did Iraq."
他说：“我们基本上打算在今年年底对此进行可能是前所未有的评估。我们今年将在军事、财政和平民等问题上投入显著的额外资源。我们相信会取得进展。但在情况得以改善之前会有挫折，就象发生在伊拉克的情况一样。”
Petraeus and Flournoy said it is important for the Afghan military, and also by the Afghan government as a whole, to demonstrate that they can serve their own people. Flournoy called that the most important indicator of whether the president's new strategy is working on that side of the border.
彼得雷乌斯和弗卢努瓦都表示，重要的是阿富汗军队以及阿富汗政府要表明他们能够为自己的人民服务。弗卢努瓦将这称之为衡量总统在阿富汗的新策略能否奏效的最重要的指标。
She said among the key tests on the Pakistani side will be whether the government and military are willing to accept U.S. aid and expertise to help fight the militant groups operating in the northwest, and whether the Pakistanis, with U.S. help, can deliver more services to the people and convince them not to support the militants.
她说，在巴基斯坦方面面临的考验有，其政府和军队是否愿意接受美国在打击在西北部地区活动的武装团体方面提供的援助和专长，以及巴基斯坦人在美国的帮助下，是否能为人民做更多的事，说服他们不要去支持武装分子。 |