2006年VOA标准英语-Afghan, NATO Officials Confident of Alliance's

By Al Pessin
Brussels
08 June 2006

Afghanistan's defense¹ minister and the chief of NATO expressed confidence that alliance forces will be effective at taking responsibility for security in most of the country, in spite of the recent increase in attacks by insurgents² and criminals. The two men spoke³ at a NATO defense ministers meeting, the first such gathering⁴ to be attended by an Afghan defense minister.

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NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop⁵ Scheffer, center, stands next to Afghanistan's Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, right, as he listens to France's Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, June 8, 2006  
  

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says he is confident the NATO forces are up to the job of fighting Taleban and al-Qaida insurgents, drug traffickers and other criminals.

"We are fully⁶ confident that NATO is quite capable to expand to stage three, and later on to stage four," he said.

Stage Three is the NATO expansion into southern Afghanistan, scheduled for the coming months, and Stage Four is NATO's expansion into eastern Afghanistan, expected by the end of the year. At that time, NATO will have responsibility for security in all of the country, except the capital, with U.S. troops leading the active hunt for insurgents.

The move has raised concern among some Afghans that there will be less security than the U.S.-led coalition⁷ has provided. Standing⁸ with the Afghan defense minister, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de hoop Scheffer said that is a misperception.

"Let no one doubt NATO's resolve nor doubt our capability⁹ to carry out this mission, because that is exactly what we will do," he said.

But Scheffer also acknowledged that the expanded Afghanistan mission will be a challenge for NATO's multi-national command and the many governments that must support the effort.

"Yes, we will be tested, but we will react robustly¹⁰, as has already been done by British forces, Canadian forces, Dutch forces. And nobody should be under any illusion that NATO will be chased away from that region. We will not be," he said.

Minister Wardak said he believes his forces, along with coalition and NATO troops, will get control of the situation in the south within a couple of months.

"We will have maybe one or two months [in] which there will be a little bit of crisis. But with the measures already taken, I think that in a short period I think we will see a drastic change in the security situation in the south," he said.

Minister Wardak said he does not believe the recent spike¹¹ in violence is a resurgence¹² by the Taleban. Rather, he said the group is trying to take advantage of the transition to a greater NATO role, and trying to convince Europeans to oppose the deployment¹³ of their troops in Afghanistan. Both he and the NATO leader predicted that the insurgent effort will fail

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

3 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。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

6 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。

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

10 robustly   

adv.要用体力地，粗鲁地

参考例句：

• These three hormones also robustly stimulated thymidine incorporation and inhibited drug-induced apoptosis. 并且这三种激素有利于胸（腺嘧啶脱氧核）苷掺入和抑制药物诱导的细胞凋亡。 来自互联网
• The economy is still growing robustly, but inflation, It'seems, is back. 经济依然强劲增长，但是通胀似乎有所抬头。 来自互联网

11 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

12 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

13 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。