VOA标准英语 US Getting More Afghan Help to Reduce Civilian Casua

A senior U.S. defense¹ official says American forces in Afghanistan are working more closely with the Afghan military to try to reduce civilian² casualties.
　
Gen. Petraeus (L), and Defense Undersecretary for Policy Flournoy testify on Capitol Hill, 01 Apr 2009

The Under Secretary for Policy, Michele Flournoy, told a gathering³ at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Tuesday the defense department is "deeply concerned" about civilian casualties from coalition⁴ attacks in Afghanistan. In recent months, there have been several attempts to improve targeting and communications, and to quickly investigate incidents and compensate⁵ the victims or their families.

Now, Flournoy says, a new element has been added.

"One of the things that's happened in recent weeks is a number of steps that we have worked out with the Afghan Ministry⁶ of Defense and the Afghan military to try to more fully⁷ integrate Afghans into every aspect of our operations, from intelligence to planning to actual execution, so that we have the benefit of Afghan expertise⁸, knowledge, sensitivities, etc. in what we're doing, and that includes the most sensitive kinds of direct action that we are undertaking⁹ against extremist elements,"said Michele Flournoy.

Flournoy is one of the architects of President Barack Obama's new strategy for fighting violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

She said Tuesday the United States supports efforts by the Afghan government to reconcile with some of the militants¹¹, but she said that plan will likely not get very far until coalition forces make some gains against the Taliban and allied¹² groups.

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.

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 assessment¹³ of how things are going with the new strategy by the end of this year.

"We literally¹⁴ 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 civilians¹⁵. We do believe that we can achieve progress, but it's going to get worse before it gets better, just as did Iraq."

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 indicator¹⁶ of whether the president's new strategy is working on that side of the border.

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 militant¹⁰ 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.

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 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 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。

8 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

9 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

10 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

11 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

12 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。

13 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

14 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

15 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。

16 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。