VOA标准英语2009年-NATO's Future in Afghanistan Key Summit Topic

When NATO leaders hold their summit this April 3-4 one of the key issues will be Afghanistan. The alliance took responsibility for the main international effort in the country two-and-a-half years ago, with mixed results. And, Afghanistan may have had as much of an impact on the alliance as NATO has had on Afghanistan.
　
Australian soldiers of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stand guard in Tirin Kot, capital of Uruzgan province (file)

The NATO mission in Afghanistan was supposed to ease the burden on the United States, speed the day when Afghanistan would be peaceful and prosperous, and define a new 21st century mission for an alliance founded to fight the Cold War.

Instead, the United States continues to shoulder most of the military burden, the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated¹ and the effort has raised questions about NATO's ability to succeed in a tough fight far from its own borders in Europe and North America.

"NATO has always had its ups and downs, and I think any rumors² now that it's in grave peril³ are a bit over exaggerated," said Sally McNamara, a British analyst⁴ based at Washington's Heritage Foundation.

"I think rumors of NATO's death have always been a bit fanciful," she added. "The core mission of NATO has always been to protect the members. And so what Afghanistan means really is they're going out of area to protect the members. I don't think this should be seen as anything radical⁵. It's just an adaptation to the environment we face."

McNamara says Europeans need to remember that their troops were sent to Afghanistan to fight terrorists who could, and already have, attacked Europe.

But taking NATO's mission outside its home area proved difficult in military and political terms. Many NATO countries could only offer very limited numbers of troops. Others put restrictions⁶ on how their troops could be used, and how much danger their missions could involve. And many governments in NATO countries were limited in what they could do in Afghanistan by strong public opposition⁷.

U.S. Defense⁸ Secretary Robert Gates lamented⁹ the situation during a speech in Britain last October.

"Despite the best intentions of allied¹⁰ governments and militaries, and despite having more than two million men and women in uniform among NATO's European members, the Alliance nonetheless struggles to scrape together a few thousand more troops and a few dozen helicopters for our commanders in Afghanistan," he said.

In fact, the United States and a handful of other members continue to do most of the fighting, and take most of the casualties, in Afghanistan, while other NATO countries patrol relatively¹¹ peaceful areas or send civilian¹² assistance. Sally McNamara calls that "absolutely not" acceptable.

"We have always wondered about what a two-tier alliance would look like, and a two-tier alliance is essentially¹³ an alliance split," she said. "We have to say to countries, if you want to be in this alliance, if you want to have the benefits of it, then you have to share the costs."

Secretary Gates has also urged NATO not to become a "talk shop," and he spent much of his first year in office, 2007, trying to convince the allies to send more troops to Afghanistan. But last year he began to change his tune¹⁴, apparently¹⁵ accepting that some allies simply can not get over the problems that keep their troop numbers low and the restrictions on their use high. So Secretary Gates says he had a different message for his counterparts at the most recent meeting of NATO's defense ministers in Poland in February.
　
U.S. Sec. of Defense Gates (L), whispers to UN Special Rep. to Afghanistan Kai Eide in Krakow, 19 FEB 2009

"My focus at Krakow for all of our partners was really more on what could be done in terms of civilian capacity, whether to help governance or police training or economic development and so on," he said.

Experts say Afghanistan needs such civilian experts to help with governance and development as much as it needs foreign troops to train its forces and help establish security. European allies will likely be pleased about that.

At the U.S. National Defense University, Professor Hans Bennendijk says NATO leaders need to make a new effort to convince their people that the alliance is relevant to their own security, and is not only focused on Afghanistan.

"It is important not to have the people of the alliance believe that the NATO alliance is all about Afghanistan," he said. "In a sense we have to bring NATO home. We have to remind the people of the alliance that there are still a number of security challenges within Europe and within the United States and Canada, the treaty area, that need to be tended to."

Analysts¹⁶ say the NATO summit will be an important juncture¹⁷ as the alliance continues to chart its way forward and define its new missions. But first, experts say, it needs to finish what it started in Afghanistan. Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, says the arrival in Europe of a new American president could go a long way in that regard, if he has a good plan.

"To the extent that President Obama goes to meet with his NATO counterparts and he has a credible¹⁸ plan, a plan that they think has a chance of working in some finite period of time, that's going to increase the likelihood of European buy-in," he said.

It is a plan senior officials of the new administration have been working on for weeks, and which President Obama will have to finalize¹⁹ and convincingly present to the allies at the summit.

1 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。

2 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 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。

9 lamented   

adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• her late lamented husband 她那令人怀念的已故的丈夫
• We lamented over our bad luck. 我们为自己的不幸而悲伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

11 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

12 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

13 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

14 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

15 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

16 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

17 juncture   

n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头

参考例句：

• The project is situated at the juncture of the new and old urban districts.该项目位于新老城区交界处。
• It is very difficult at this juncture to predict the company's future.此时很难预料公司的前景。

18 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

19 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。