VOA标准英语2009年-US Officials: No Swift Exit from Afgha

 

U.S. officials are stressing an eventual¹ drawdown of American troops will be done gradually and in a manner that allows Afghan forces to assume security responsibilities

Michael Bowman | Washington 06 December 2009

Defense² Secretary Robert Gates testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan, 03 Dec 2009

 

Days after President Barack Obama unveiled a new U.S. war strategy in Afghanistan, U.S. officials are stressing an eventual drawdown of American troops will be done gradually and in a manner that allows Afghan forces to assume security responsibilities. 

President Obama's plan for Afghanistan calls for the rapid deployment³ of an additional 30,000 U.S. troops and specifies⁴ July, 2011 as the starting point for reducing U.S. combat forces. 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates addressed the withdrawal⁵ date on ABC's "This Week" program.

"I do not consider this an exit strategy, and I try to avoid using that term.  This is a transition that is going to take place, and it is not an arbitrary date," Gates said.

Gates said the transition to Afghan control of security operations will begin in the country's more stable regions, and will be done gradually and as local conditions allow.  In the interim⁶, the Obama plan calls for training Afghan security forces on an accelerated schedule.

But many Republican lawmakers, such as Arizona Senator John McCain, oppose any target date for drawing down American troops. 

"When conditions on the ground have decisively begun to change for the better, that is when our troops should start to return home with honor," McCain said. "Not one minute longer, not one minute sooner, and certainly not on some arbitrary date in July, 2011."

But the head of U.S. Central Command of the armed forces, General David Petraeus, disputes any characterization of the July, 2011 date as a predetermined launch of a swift U.S. retreat from Afghanistan.  Petraeus, who engineered the 2007 U.S. military surge in Iraq, spoke⁷ on "Fox News Sunday."

"This [date] does not trigger a rush to the exits," Petraeus said. "It triggers a beginning of a transition to Afghan security forces, and over time a beginning of transition of tasks to Afghan governmental elements, as well."

In his speech to the nation last Tuesday, President Obama stated that U.S. commitment to the eight-year Afghan conflict cannot be open-ended, and that President Hamid Karzai must take steps to crack down on corruption⁸ and improve governance in his country.

While urging reform in Afghanistan, U.S. officials say the future of America's mission in the country will not be dictated⁹ by what Afghan officials accomplish or fail to do.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also appeared on "This Week".

"I cannot predict everything that is going to happen with President Karzai, but I think it is important to stress that this decision was based on what we believe is best for the United States," Clinton said. "And we have to have a realistic view of who we are working with in Afghanistan."

Congressional opposition¹⁰ to President Obama's Afghan war plan appears stronger among left-leaning members of his own Democratic Party than opposition Republicans. 

Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin was noncommittal when asked if he would back the plan on "Fox News Sunday".

"I am skeptical¹² as to whether 30,000 more troops will make a difference [in Afghanistan]," Durbin said. "But I would like to believe by July, 2011 that we will be in a position where we are going to see our troops really coming home."

President Obama says the goal in Afghanistan remains¹³ unchanged from eight years ago: to disrupt and dismantle¹⁴ terrorist groups and defeat violent extremists.  Asked whether the United States knows the current hiding place of al-Qaida kingpin Osama bin¹¹ Laden¹⁵, Defense Secretary Gates said, "If we did, we would go get him."
 

1 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

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 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。

4 specifies   

v.指定( specify的第三人称单数 )；详述；提出…的条件；使具有特性

参考例句：

• The third clause of the contract specifies steel sashes for the windows. 合同的第三款指定使用钢窗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The contract specifies red tiles, not slates, for the roof. 合同规定屋顶用红瓦，并非石板瓦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

6 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

7 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。

8 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

9 dictated   

v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布

参考例句：

• He dictated a letter to his secretary. 他向秘书口授信稿。
• No person of a strong character likes to be dictated to. 没有一个个性强的人愿受人使唤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 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。

11 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

12 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 dismantle   

vt.拆开，拆卸；废除，取消

参考例句：

• He asked for immediate help from the United States to dismantle the warheads.他请求美国立即提供援助，拆除这批弹头。
• The mower firmly refused to mow,so I decided to dismantle it.修完后割草机还是纹丝不动，于是，我决定把它拆开。

15 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。