Soon after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the U.S. and its NATO allies went to war in Afghanistan to drive the Taliban from power and root out al-Qaida terrorists hiding there. That war is still going strong.
在美国2001年9月11日遭受恐怖主义袭击后不久，美国和它的北约盟友对阿富汗开战，目的是把塔利班赶下台以及清剿藏在那里的基地恐怖主义分子。目前战争仍在激烈进行。
Post Taliban life
Mohammad Yaseen Jan is educating his children for a future that is far from certain. He returned to Afghanistan from Iran soon after U.S. and NATO troops arrived nearly 10 years ago. He thought then that peace had finally come to his tortured homeland.
阿富汗难民穆罕默德.亚辛不久前从伊朗返回了家园。他当时认为他那饱受折磨的家园终于要迎来和平了。
"When we were refugees they didn’t even treat us as human," he says. "When we came back to living in Kabul security had gotten better. We can even earn a loaf of bread. We are happy and hope that God almighty brings more security to Afghanistan and we will be able to enjoy a better life."
穆罕默德.亚辛说：“当我们是难民时，他们甚至没有把我们当人。当我们返回喀布尔居住时，安全局势要好一些。我们甚至可以得到一条面包。我们很高兴并希望全能的真主能使阿富汗的安全局势更好一些，能让我们过上更好的生活。”
Yaseen's girls now attend school in Kabul, no longer restricted by the Taliban's authoritarian rule. The Afghan capital has a democratically elected government. NATO and Afghan troops protect wide areas of the country. But the Taliban remain a threat, and Afghanistan is not a nation at peace.
亚辛的女儿们现在在喀布尔上学，不再受到塔利班专制统治的限制。现在的阿富汗首都有一个民选政府。 北约和阿富汗军队保护着该国的大部分地区。但塔利班仍然是一个威胁，阿富汗也不是一个处在和平状态的国家。
Will the West abandon Afghanistan?
Poverty is widespread, corruption endemic. Opium poppy production and illegal drug trafficking are a way of life. Even the promise of wealth that vast mineral deposits offer is years in the future. Afghan parliament member Fawzai Koofi worries that the West will abandon her country, leaving Afghanistan to repeat the turmoil that followed the Soviet withdrawal in 1989 and the Taliban's rise to power.
贫困、腐败问题仍然很普遍。生产罂粟和非法贩运毒品是一种生活方式。由丰富的矿藏资源带来财富的承诺也还需要很多年才能实现。
"Our fear is that with the withdrawal, early withdrawal, without finishing this war properly and bringing a sustainable peace, the situation will grow worse than it was in 1992," Koofi says. " And the negative consequences, increasing insecurity and the Talibanization of the process in Afghanistan, is not only worse on us, as women, as people of Afghanistan but, believe me, it’s going to be worse on you."
法希娅.库菲说：“我们担心的是如果没有合理的结束这场战争，以及在没有带来可持续和平的情况下撤军或提前撤军将使得局势比1992年还要糟糕。 糟糕的后果包括不安全局势加剧，阿富汗变得更加塔利班化等，这不仅仅将对我们、妇女以及阿富汗人民带来影响，相信我，你的情况也会更糟。”
Troop pullout
NATO is already winding down its combat role in Afghanistan. The U.S. plans to pull its troops out by 2014. The emphasis now is on turning the Afghan National Army into a competent security force and finding some way to reconcile with some elements of the Taliban. Both sides hope to negotiate from a position of power. But all Mohammed Yaseen Jan wants is for his children to grow up and for Afghanistan to be a better place.
北约已经在逐步减少其在阿富汗的战斗作用。美国计划在2014年前撤军。现在的主要任务是把阿富汗国家军队转变成一支有能力的安全部队，以及通过某种方式和部分塔利班势力和解。双方都希望能够主导谈判。但是穆罕默德.亚辛所想要的只是他的孩子能够顺利成长，以及阿富汗成为一个更好的地方。
"If peace is restored to Afghanistan, our children can go to school, graduate and serve their nation," he says. "But if the Americans get out of Afghanistan and the security gets worse again, we will have to leave Afghanistan. We will sell everything we have and we will migrate again."
穆罕默德.亚辛说：“如果阿富汗恢复和平，我们的孩子可以去学校、毕业并为他们的国家服务。但是，如果美国人离开阿富汗，并且安全局势变得更糟的话，我们将离开阿富汗。我们将卖掉所有的东西再次迁移。”
And that will mean the end of the Yaseens' dream of a better life, and leave Afghanistan to face more years of war.
这将意味着亚辛拥有更好生活的梦想破裂，以及阿富汗人民将面临更多年的战争折磨。 |