VOA常速英语2017--美国支持阿富汗通过排雷工作实现和平稳定（在线收听）

Afghanistan has known little peace or stability over the past four decades, having suffered through a Russian invasion, a civil war, five years of harsh rule by the fundamentalist Taliban regime, and the United States-led NATO action aimed at dismantling al-Qa'ida and overthrowing the Taliban regime that sheltered the terrorists.

阿富汗过去的4年与和平或者稳定都不挂钩：经历了俄罗斯的入侵、内战、塔利班基要主义政权为期5年的严苛管制。而美国领导的北约旨在捣毁基地组织，推翻恐怖分子的温床——塔利班政权。

Some 6.2 million people fled the country during the years of upheaval. But once the Taliban had gone, the refugees began to return home.

动乱年代，有近620万人逃离了阿富汗。而塔利班一走，难民们就纷纷重返家园。

There is a clear connection between explosive hazards and displacement of populations, and Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. In some parts of the country, the land is unsafe to farm, unsafe for livestock, unsafe to even walk. Thus, many refugees who returned still could not go back to their homes.

危险爆炸物与人口流离失所之间有明显的关联，而阿富汗又是世界上埋雷情况最严重的国家之一。阿富汗的一些地区缺乏安全度，导致无法耕作土地、畜养家畜，甚至无法行走。因此，很多难民即便返回了故国，也无法真正的重返家园。

The government of Afghanistan set a goal of clearing the country's known minefields by 2023. Eighty percent of that goal has already been reached. Yet 570 square kilometers has yet to be de-mined.

阿富汗政府设立了一个目标，即在2023年之前排掉已知的所有雷区。目前为止，该目标已经实现了80%。不过，还有570平方公里的区域尚未完成排雷工作。

In late March, over 90 representatives met for the Afghanistan Donor and Implementing Partners Coordination Workshop for Mine Action, jointly hosted by the U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, and the Afghanistan Ministry for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, writes Amy O'Halloran, Program Administrative Assistant in the State Department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement. The goal was to identify the challenges involved in meeting the Afghan government's 2023 target.

3月底，有90多位代表参加了阿富汗排雷行动捐献与实施伙伴协调研讨会，该研讨会由美国国务院政治军事事务局撤销武器办公室和阿富汗灾难管理与人道主义事务部共同举办，国务院政治军事事务局撤销武器办公室的项目行政助理艾米如是写道。目标是确定实现阿富汗政府2023年目标所需要克服的挑战。

The United States is a long-time supporter of Afghanistan's demining efforts. From 1993 through 2016, we have provided over $442 million for conventional weapons destruction and demining assistance to Afghanistan, through grants to Afghanistan's mine clearance organizations and international nongovernmental organizations in the mine action community.

长期以来，美国一直支持阿富汗的排雷工作。从1993年到2016年，我们已经就销毁常规武器和排雷援助方面为阿富汗提供了4.42多亿美元。这些资金都捐助给了阿富汗的排雷组织和隶属于排雷行动社群的国际非政府组织。

The United States is proud to support humanitarian mine action in Afghanistan because protecting civilians is a prerequisite for achieving any kind of peace and stability, said the U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Ambassador Robert Wood. Men, women, and children must be protected from the risk of landmines and unexploded ordnance. As long as these dangers persist, it is difficult for communities to recover from conflict.

美国为支持阿富汗的人道主义排雷行动感到骄傲，因为保护平民是实现和平与稳定的前提条件，美国裁军谈判会议常驻大使罗伯特如是说道。必须要保护包括孩子在内的所有人不受地雷和未爆炸军火的威胁。只要这些危险还存在，各社群就很难从冲突中恢复过来。