VOA慢速英语2014 美国称在阿富汗军事行动将一如既往

 

AS IT IS 2014-12-01 US Officials Claim Afghan Operations Unchanged 美国称在阿富汗军事行动将一如既往

United States officials say the force level and duties of U.S. and NATO troops remaining in Afghanistan after December have not changed. But media reports say more U.S. troops will be staying than the number announced. The reports also say the troops’ rules for military operations will be expanded. 

Recently, a U.S. Defense¹ Department official told reporters that the U.S. forces will not specifically go after Taliban targets. But he said anyone thought to be a threat to U.S. or Afghan forces will, in his words, “become fair game.”

President Barack Obama announced in May that he planned to reduce the size of the U.S. military force in Afghanistan to 9,800 by 2015. A U.S. State Department official confirmed six months later that the military’s combat operation in Afghanistan will end this year. But he said the force level announced by the president might take time to reach.

“Because of delays in the post-election government formation and the signing of the US/Afghanistan Bilateral² Security Agreement and the NATO SOFA, the force-generation effort for the post-2014 mission is a few months behind where we had hoped to be. But nonetheless, the United States remains³ confident that the Resolution Support mission troops, to include 9,800 troops, will be in place by early 2015.”

That was State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke. He says the identification and deployment⁴ of forces from some of America’s NATO allies have experienced a delay of a few months.

The Reuters news service says the United States is preparing to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan by at least several hundred. The reason: to make up for changes in the size of the NATO force. Reuters says its report was based on information from three people with direct knowledge of the situation.

Rear Admiral John Kirby is a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Department.

“We’re still having discussion with our NATO partners about Resolute⁵ Support mission, and the resources that are going to be required to execute that. As you know, it’s not all an American posture⁶. The 9,800 is the number that the president has authorized⁷ for the American presence in Resolute Support. But that still means there’s a couple of thousand or so that need to be provided by coalition⁸ partners. We’re still in discussions with them about that.”

Recently, The New York Times reported that President Obama decided⁹ to approve a more expansive program for the military in 2015 than planned. The newspaper said his decision means U.S. troops will have direct involvement in fighting in Afghanistan for at least another year. The new order reportedly enables U.S. forces to carry out operations against groups considered a threat to U.S. troops or the Afghan government.

Admiral Kirby says there has been no decision to expand the duties of the troops.

“Going into 2015, we’ve always said there’s going to be two missions for our troops going forward. One is to support Resolute Support, which is the train, advise and assist mission, the NATO mission in Afghanistan. And the other is, of course, to continue to conduct counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan, and those will continue. Valid¹⁰ terrorist targets will continue to be prosecuted¹¹, and our troops will continue to have the right to defend themselves when needed.”

Both The New York Times and the Associated Press reported another development.  They said that the new Afghan president is canceling the country’s ban on night-time raids. Former president Hamid Karzai approved the ban because such raids were considered invasive. Night-time raids were considered an important weapon in the fight against the Taliban.

Words in this Story

troops - n. a number of soldiers in a large controlled group

military - adj. of or about the armed forces; n. the armed forces of a nation or group

reduce - v. to make less or smaller in number, size or amount; to cut

delay - n. postponement; causing to be late

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

5 resolute   

adj.坚决的，果敢的

参考例句：

• He was resolute in carrying out his plan.他坚决地实行他的计划。
• The Egyptians offered resolute resistance to the aggressors.埃及人对侵略者作出坚决的反抗。

6 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

7 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。

8 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。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 valid   

adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的

参考例句：

• His claim to own the house is valid.他主张对此屋的所有权有效。
• Do you have valid reasons for your absence?你的缺席有正当理由吗？

11 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。