纽约时报 塔利班袭击阿富汗军事基地 而后又与美国特使和谈(2)

“The explosion was very big,” said Sharifullah Hotak, a member of Wardak’s provincial¹ council.

瓦尔达克省议会成员沙瑞夫拉·霍塔克说:“这场爆炸威力很大。”

“It destroyed the building and damaged some houses close to the training center.”

“不仅摧毁了训练中心，还损坏了训练中心附近的一些房屋。”

It was unclear how many of the dead were officers of the Afghan intelligence agency versus² local militia³ members they were training.

死者中究竟有多少是那个情报机构的官员，多少是他们训练的当地民兵目前还不清楚。

While security officials said the casualties were a mix of both,

虽然安全官员说两方都有伤亡，

a statement by the Afghan president’s office made no mention of the militia members and said intelligence agency “personnel” had been targeted.

但阿富汗总统办公室的一份声明却丝毫没有提到这些民兵成员，只说情报机构的“人员”被当作了这次袭击的目标。

Casualties of Afghan intelligence officers have generally been lower than those of other forces, in part because of the better training and equipment they have.

通常情况下，阿富汗情报官员的伤亡人数是低于其他部队的伤亡人数的，部分原因是他们更加训练有素，装备也更为精良。

But in recent years, as regular forces have been stretched by intensifying⁴ fighting across the country,

但近年来，由于全国各地的战斗都在不断加剧，普通军的力量已经捉襟见肘，

Afghan intelligence officers, particularly the agency’s special forces, have often found themselves operating like regular forces,

所以，情报官员，尤其是该机构的特种部队，经常要发挥普通军的作用，

deployed⁵ to different areas to hold the line and taking on other tasks they are not meant for.

被部署到不同区域维持秩序，还要承担其他原本不应该安排给他们的任务。

Over the summer, at least 11 intelligence officers were killed in an explosion in the southern city of Kandahar.

今年夏天，就有至少11名情报官员在南部城市坎大哈的一次爆炸中丧生。

The intelligence agency, long mentored⁶ by C.I.A. advisers⁷, has also worked to extend its forces around the country by training local militias⁸.

所以，该情报机构，长期受中央情报局C.I.A.顾问指导，也会通过训练当地民兵，努力在全国各地壮大自己的势力。

In the past, security officials have played down those efforts, casting the militias as organic movements of locals who are staging “uprisings” against the Taliban.

过去，安全官员们并不看好该情报机构的这些努力，扬言民兵只是当地人组织“起义”，起来反抗塔利班的有生力量。

But on Monday, they acknowledged that many men killed in the attack were militia members they had been training.

但周一，他们承认，在袭击中丧生的许多人都是他们一直在训练的民兵。

The intelligence agency was using the center to train and equip pro-government militia members before sending them to other parts of the province to support security forces,

该情报机构要先在该中心对那些亲政府民兵进行训练，给他们配上装备，再将他们派往该省其他地区支持安全部队，

said Mr. Hotak, the Wardak provincial council member.

瓦尔达克省议会成员霍塔克说。

Despite the cold winter in most parts of the country and American efforts to persuade the Taliban to sit down for talks with the Afghan government,

尽管阿富汗大部分地区的冬天都很冷，尽管美国已经在努力劝说塔利班坐下来与阿富汗政府谈判，

violence has continued unabated across the country.

但阿富汗全国各地的暴力事件仍然有增无减。

Zalmay Khalilzad, the American special envoy⁹ for facilitating Afghan peace talks, is on the latest of several trips to the region over the past couple of months to build momentum¹⁰ for talks.

美国派去促进阿富汗和平谈判的特使扎勒米·哈利勒扎德，现在又来到了该地区，为谈判营造时机。过去几个月，他已多次出访该地区。

After visiting Pakistan, where Taliban leaders enjoy sanctuary¹¹, Mr. Khalilzad struck an optimistic tone.

在访问了塔利班领导人享有庇护的巴基斯坦之后，哈利勒扎德的语气变得颇为乐观。

“We’re heading in the right direction with more steps by Pakistan coming that will lead to concrete results,” he wrote in a Twitter posting on Sunday.

“我们正朝着正确的方向前进，巴基斯坦即将采取更多能够取得切实成果的措施，”他周日在推特上发帖称。

Hours after the attack in Wardak, the Taliban put out a statement saying they had resumed talks, which had seemed stalled for weeks, with American diplomats¹² in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

在瓦尔达克袭击发生几个小时后，塔利班又发表声明，称他们已经恢复了和驻卡塔尔首都多哈的美国外交官的谈判，而在此之前，谈判似已搁浅数周。

1 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

2 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

3 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

4 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

5 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

6 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

7 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

8 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

9 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

10 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

11 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

12 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》