美国国家公共电台 NPR 俄罗斯悬赏塔利班袭击美军? 真假成谜

Did Russia pay Taliban-linked militias¹ to kill coalition² and U.S. troops in Afghanistan? It's a story that was first reported by The New York Times. The Times reports that President Trump³ knew about this, that intelligence officials told him. The president says that's not true. He says the intelligence community told him that they didn't brief him because they didn't consider the information credible⁴.

俄罗斯是否为与塔利班有联系的武装分子杀害驻阿富汗美军而提供赏金？这是最先由《纽约时报》披露的消息。《纽约时报》报道称，特朗普总统知道此事，情报官员向他报告过。总统表示，这不是真的。他说，情报界告诉他，他们没有向他通报这一消息的原因是，他们认为这个消息并不可信。

Ellen Nakashima is a national security reporter with The Washington Post. She's been breaking some news on this one. Good morning, Ellen.

中岛艾伦是《华盛顿邮报》的国家安全记者。她一直在追踪报道这起事件。早上好，艾伦。

ELLEN NAKASHIMA: Good morning, Noel.

中岛艾伦：早上好，诺埃尔。

KING: Let me start by having you explain this bounty⁵ program and what Russia was trying to do exactly in Afghanistan.

金：首先请你解释一下这个赏金计划，以及俄罗斯到底想在阿富汗做什么？

NAKASHIMA: Well, according to intelligence reports that our sources were briefed on, Russian — the Russian military spy agency the GRU was offering bounties⁶ to Taliban-linked militants⁷ in Afghanistan to kill coalition troops. The reason is not clear. There is speculation⁸ it might have to do with wanting to disrupt some of the sporadic⁹ efforts at peace talks between the Americans and the Taliban or that it might have been some form of revenge for efforts by American troops to kill Russian mercenaries in Syria in early 2018, after they attacked a U.S. base in eastern Syria.

中岛：根据我们的消息来源得到的情报报告，俄罗斯军事情报机构GRU为阿富汗境内与塔利班有联系的武装分子提供赏金，鼓励他们杀害联军。原因尚不清楚。有怀疑认为这可能是俄罗斯想破坏美国与塔利班之间为数不多的和平谈判，也可能是某种报复行为，因为2018年初，叙利亚境内的俄罗斯雇佣兵袭击了美国位于叙利亚东部的军事基地，但被美军打死。

It's not clear how high up the bounties were authorized¹⁰, whether Russian President Vladimir Putin himself was aware. But what is clear, Noel, is that for roughly the last decade, the GRU has been emboldened¹¹ to carry out a series of evermore brazen¹² attacks to destabilize and divide its opponents in the West, including the United States.

目前并不清楚赏金的授权金额有多高，也不清楚俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京是否知情。但是，诺埃尔，现在明确的是，大约在过去10年间，GRU大胆地进行了一系列无耻的攻击，为其在西方的对手制造动荡和分裂，而这些对手显然包括美国。

KING: The GRU is a unit we're familiar with. They poisoned Sergei Skripal. That was the Russian spy living in the U.K. They have been up to a lot. It seems worth asking, as you report this out, is there proof that this resulted in the deaths of any U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan?

金：GRU这个机构我们很熟悉。他们曾给谢尔盖·斯克里帕尔下毒。斯克里帕尔是生活在英国的俄罗斯间谍。这个机构做了很多事。在你报道这起事件时，似乎值得问一下这个问题：是否有证据表明这个赏金计划导致了驻阿富汗美军的死亡？

NAKASHIMA: We do not know exactly what proof the intelligence agencies have. What we do know is that some of this came from U.S. military interrogations of captured militants in Afghanistan in recent months. And this intelligence was discussed at a restricted high-level meeting in late March at the White House National Security Council. Out of that meeting, NSC officials then tasked the CIA to review the intelligence. And after that process of review, which could take weeks, we understand they basically confirmed the reports, which had come initially¹³ from special operations forces in Afghanistan.

中岛：我们不能确定情报机构掌握了什么证据。我们能确定的是，其中一些信息来自最近几个月美军对阿富汗被俘武装分子的审讯。白宫国家安全委员会在3月底举行的限制性高级别会议上讨论了这一情报。会议结束后，国家安全委员会官员委派中央情报局审查这个情报。在可能需要数周的审查结束之后，我们了解到他们基本上证实了这份最初来自驻阿富汗美军特种部队的报告。

KING: And yet the president, President Trump, says he didn't know anything about this, which seems quite confusing, frankly¹⁴.

金：但是特朗普总统说他对此一无所知，坦白说，这似乎相当令人困惑。

NAKASHIMA: Yes. In fact, that is still — that's a big question. Trump has been saying that he was not informed. The director of national intelligence, John Ratcliffe, also said neither the president nor the vice¹⁵ president was briefed. It could be that officials were waiting to brief him until they had verified the intelligence and had also come up with a list of response options that they might put before him to take to, you know, punish or deter¹⁶ Moscow. The White House also said yesterday that they were still evaluating the veracity¹⁷ of the underlying¹⁸ allegations.

中岛：对。事实上，这是个大问题。特朗普坚称他没有收到汇报。国家情报总监约翰·拉特克利夫也表示，总统和副总统都未听到通报。可能是官员想等到核实情报后再向总统通报，他们可能还会提出应对方案清单，并将清单提交总统，由他决定是惩罚还是威慑俄罗斯。白宫昨天还表示，他们仍在评估这些潜在指控的真实性。

KING: What will lawmakers want to know? Just quickly.

金：议员想知道什么？请简短回答。

NAKASHIMA: Yeah, they are very concerned. They want to know whether the report of the bounties is true, whether Trump was briefed or, if not, why not and, most importantly, what is the administration going to do about it?

中岛：他们非常担心。他们想知道这份有关赏金计划的报告是否属实，特朗普总统是否听取了简报，如果没有，原因为何，最重要的是，政府打算对此采取什么措施？

KING: Ellen Nakashima of The Washington Post. Ellen, thanks for your time.

金：以上是《华盛顿邮报》的中岛艾伦带来的报道。艾伦，谢谢你。

NAKASHIMA: Thank you.

中岛：谢谢。

1 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

2 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。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 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？

5 bounty   

n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与

参考例句：

• He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
• We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。

6 bounties   

（由政府提供的）奖金( bounty的名词复数 )； 赏金； 慷慨； 大方

参考例句：

• They paid bounties for people to give up their weapons. 他们向放下武器的人发放赏金。
• This foundation provided bounties of more than 5 million last year. 去年该基金会赠款达五百万元以上。

7 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。

8 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

9 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。

10 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

11 emboldened   

v.鼓励，使有胆量( embolden的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Emboldened by the wine, he went over to introduce himself to her. 他借酒壮胆，走上前去向她作自我介绍。
• His success emboldened him to expand his business. 他有了成就因而激发他进一步扩展业务。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 brazen   

adj.厚脸皮的，无耻的，坚硬的

参考例句：

• The brazen woman laughed loudly at the judge who sentenced her.那无耻的女子冲着给她判刑的法官高声大笑。
• Some people prefer to brazen a thing out rather than admit defeat.有的人不愿承认失败，而是宁肯厚着脸皮干下去。

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 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

15 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

16 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

17 veracity   

n.诚实

参考例句：

• I can testify to this man's veracity and good character.我可以作证，此人诚实可靠品德良好。
• There is no reason to doubt the veracity of the evidence.没有理由怀疑证据的真实性。

18 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。