Security experts are warning more abductions of reporters and other foreign personnel are likely in the war-torn country, following the kidnapping and controversial rescue of a British journalist in Afghanistan.
安全专家警告说，会有更多记者和外国人在饱受战火摧残的阿富汗遭到绑架。在这之前，一名英国记者在阿富汗被绑架后获救，不过营救他的方式充满争议。
The alert was issued after the kidnapping and rescue of a New York Times reporter in Kunduz province. Another correspondent for the same newspaper was kidnapped outside Kabul last December and escaped his captors seven months later, after being taken to Pakistan.
这一警告是在《纽约时报》记者在昆杜斯省被绑架并获救之后发出的。《纽约时报》的另一名记者去年12月在喀布尔外遭到绑架，并被带到巴基斯坦。这名记者七个月后逃脱。
News about the two kidnappings was initially withheld from the public while authorities worked to secure the release of the reporters.
有关这两起绑架的消息最初被封锁。当时有关当局在设法确保记者能获释。
Risk consultant John Drake, of the British security company AKE, predicts several more such incidents will take place this year in Afghanistan.
一家英国安全公司的风险顾问德雷克预计，阿富汗今年会发生更多这样的事件。
"The security situation has not improved in the country over recent weeks," he said. "And it looks like it is only going to get worse with no strong imposition of security or authority even after the election."
他说，“阿富汗的安全局势最近几周没有得到改善。甚至大选后看起来只会变得更糟，因为既缺乏强有力的安全措施，当局也没有威摄力。”
Security consultants say a foreigner gets kidnapped, on average, once every other month in the country, with ransom payments for their release reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
安全顾问们说，在阿富汗平均每隔一个月就有一名外国人被绑架。解救他们所支付的赎金可达几十万美元。
In its just-issued warning, AKE says members of the press remain most at risk, but all foreign personnel, including investors and business travel, also are potential targets.
AKE's Drake, speaking to VOA from Aberdeen, Scotland, says the Taliban and other groups have dual political and financial objectives by kidnapping correspondents and other foreigners.
"A lot of groups want to send a strong message to foreign governments by targeting foreign nationals who are operating in the country - the strategy being to convince the general public of coalition nations that their armies and armed forces should not be in Afghanistan," he said. "But a lot of groups that are responsible for the abductions are also very keen in obtaining ransom. It's a very lucrative source of money. It is a major business in Afghanistan."
New York Times correspondent Stephen Farrell was freed unharmed by British commandos Wednesday. Farrell's Afghan colleague, Sultan Munadi, was killed during the operation, along with one of the commandos, and an Afghan woman and a child who were caught in the cross fire.
《纽约时报》记者法雷尔星期三被英国突击队安全营救出来。法雷尔的阿富汗同事穆那迪在营救行动中被打死。战斗中还有一名突击队员，一名阿富汗妇女和一名儿童丧生。
Farrell, who has dual British-Irish citizenship, had been kidnapped once previously while on assignment in Iraq.
The rescue operation to free him, approved at the highest levels of the British government, is being criticized in both Kabul and London amid reports that the captives were close to being freed through negotiations.
营救记者的行动得到英国政府的最高层批准，不过受到了来自喀布尔和伦敦的批评。有报导说，被绑架人员即将通过谈判而获释。
The Media Club of Afghanistan is blaming NATO forces for the death of their respected colleague, although it remains unclear whether Munadi was shot by the commandos or the Taliban.
阿富汗媒体俱乐部指责北约部队应该为他们尊敬的同事的死负责。尽管还不清楚穆那迪是被突击队员还是被塔利班打死。
Journalist Farhad Paykar, speaking on behalf of the organization, says international forces were reckless and demonstrated an inhumane double standard.
"There is no justification for the international forces to rescue their own national, and retrieve the dead body of their own soldier killed in action, and leave behind the dead body of Sultan Munadi in the area," said Paykar.
According to the U.S.-based Committee to Project Journalists, at least 17 foreign and Afghan journalists on duty in Afghanistan have been killed since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban from power.
根据总部设在美国的保护记者委员会统计，自2001年为推翻塔利班政权而入侵阿富汗以来，至少有17名外国记者和阿富汗记者在阿富汗进行采访报导时被杀。
More than 1,400 foreign troops have died while thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed by insurgents or as a result of military operations.
有1400多名外国军人死亡，数千名阿富汗平民被暴乱分子打死或在军事行动中丧生。 |