PBS高端访谈:阿富汗战场美国士兵死亡总数创新高

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF:Earlier this week, we reported a new milestone¹ crossed in the war in Afghanistan. The number of U.S. military deaths has surpassed 2,000.

　　Ray has the story behind the numbers.

　　GEORGE W. BUSH, former U.S. president:On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against al-Qaida terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

　　RAY SUAREZ:In 2001, President George W. Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom. More than a decade later, the U.S. is still fighting in Afghanistan, and Americans are still dying.

　　While the numbers vary, the Department of Defense² and others count at least 2,000 American military deaths since the war began. The number includes suicides in Afghanistan, but not those following service there. The death toll³ surpassed 1,000 back in 2010. That figure then doubled in just over two years after a major escalation⁴.

　　PRESIDENT BARACKOBAMA:I have determined⁵ that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan, so that they can target the insurgency⁶ and secure key population centers.

　　RAY SUAREZ:What was called the surge sent more troops into dangerous Taliban territory.

　　Phillip Carter, a senior fellow with the Center for a New American Security, served nine years as an Army military police and civil affairs officer, including one year in Iraq.

　　PHILLIP CARTER, Center for a New American Security:It's a very infantry-centric war.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Carter says that jump in deaths is easy to understand when you look at the increase in the numbers, what the surge forces were asked to do and where.

　　PHILLIP CARTER:The fighting is concentrated in those places in Afghanistan that are most difficult to fight in, the plains of Helmand where we're really talking about canal-to-canal, or house-to-house fighting, the mountains of Eastern Afghanistan, where we see bloody⁷ combat reminiscent of Vietnam or, in some cases, even of Korea, very difficult to evacuate⁸ troops from if they're hurt, and that results in a high number of casualties for those troops committed to those areas.

　　RAY SUAREZ:The rising death toll also shed light on one military branch's role in the war.

　　PHILLIP CARTER:Most of these casualties in that second thousand occurred in the south, and that's where some of the most bloody fighting against the Taliban occurred. It's also where the Marine⁹ Corps¹⁰ put the majority of its effort, and I think that's why the Marines disproportionately suffered more dead than the Army or the Navy or the Air Force.

　　RAY SUAREZ:The website iCasualties.org lists two southern provinces, Helmand and Kandahar, as those with the most coalition¹¹ fatalities¹² during the war.

　　Department of Defense data also shows the majority of Americans killed were white men. Most were active-duty soldiers, as opposed to reservists, and between 25 and 30 years old. Still, the American death toll in Afghanistan is less than half that from the war in Iraq. The U.S. military effort there ended in December 2011.

　　PHILLIP CARTER:In Iraq, you had a much larger force go in and in a much more violent way initially¹³ than you had in Afghanistan. Then, that large force stayed for year after year after year, with 120,000, 150,000 troops on the ground.

　　Iraq was, for a long time, emphasized as the main effort, and Afghanistan was always seen as the supporting effort, and that drove the resourcing for that war.

　　It also, I think, drives the casualty numbers, that we're only now reaching a place in Afghanistan that we reached in Iraq many years ago.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Carter says the face of today's military force in Afghanistan is also much different, particularly when it comes to women, 36 of whom were killed in Afghanistan.

　　PHILLIP CARTER:Women have served our country extraordinarily¹⁴ well in Afghanistan, and they have served alongside with and in some cases died alongside with their male colleagues and brethren. When it comes to serving in combat, and serving in particularly arduous¹⁵ conditions where you can be killed, gender¹⁶ fades away, and it's all about whether you can do the job or whether you can't.

　　RAY SUAREZ:As the war in Afghanistan enters its 11th year, U.S. military forces have begun to draw down, with Afghan forces taking full control of security by the end of 2014.

　　But some fear those Americans on the ground today may be forgotten.

　　DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA:Good afternoon.

　　RAY SUAREZ:Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta called for the country's renewed attention.

　　LEON PANETTA:I thought it was important to remind the American people that there is a war going on in Afghanistan, and that young men and women are dying in order to try to protect this country.

　　RAY SUAREZ:The Afghan people are in the crossfire¹⁷ of those same battles, and Afghan security forces are seeing more deaths in their ranks. Civilian¹⁸ casualties have gone down this year compared to 2011, but remain high.

　　The United Nations reported just under 3,100 Afghan civilians¹⁹ were killed or wounded through June, 30 percent of them women and children.

1 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

2 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。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 escalation   

n.扩大，增加

参考例句：

• The threat of nuclear escalation remains. 核升级的威胁仍旧存在。 来自辞典例句
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。 来自辞典例句

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

7 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

8 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

9 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

10 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

11 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。

12 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

14 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

15 arduous   

adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的

参考例句：

• We must have patience in doing arduous work.我们做艰苦的工作要有耐性。
• The task was more arduous than he had calculated.这项任务比他所估计的要艰巨得多。

16 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

17 crossfire   

n.被卷进争端

参考例句：

• They say they are caught in the crossfire between the education establishment and the government.他们称自己被卷进了教育机构与政府之间的争端。
• When two industrial giants clash,small companies can get caught in the crossfire.两大工业企业争斗之下，小公司遭受池鱼之殃。

18 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。

19 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。