VOA慢速英语2021 塔利班从毒品交易中获利

The United States spent more than $8 billion over 15 years on efforts to keep the Taliban from making money from Afghanistan's drug trade.

在过去的15年里，美国花费了80多亿美元来阻止塔利班从阿富汗的毒品交易中获利。

The plan failed.

这个计划失败了。

As the United States ends its longest war, Afghanistan is still the world's biggest illegal opiate supplier and looks likely to remain so in the near future.

随着美国结束其历时最长的战争，阿富汗仍是世界上最大的非法鸦片供应国，而且在不久的将来可能仍将如此。

Some U.N. and U.S. officials worry about even higher opiate production -- and how such production might help further finance the Taliban.

一些联合国和美国官员担心鸦片产量会继续增加，进而继续为塔利班提供资金。

Three of the last four years have seen some of Afghanistan's highest levels of opium¹ production, reported the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, or UNODC.

联合国毒品和犯罪办公室(UNODC)报告说，在过去的四年中，阿富汗的鸦片产量达到了最高水平。

Even as the COVID-19 health crisis went on, poppy growing increased 37 percent last year, the UNODC reported in May.

5月，联合国毒品和犯罪办公室报告称，尽管新冠肺炎卫生危机仍在继续，但罂粟种植去年增加了37%。

The estimated, all-time high for opium production was set in 2017 at some $1.4 billion in sales by farmers.

据估计，2017年鸦片产量创历史新高，农民销售额约为14亿美元。

That number represented roughly 7 percent of the goods and services produced in Afghanistan, the UNODC reported.

毒品和犯罪办公室报告称，这一数字约占阿富汗生产的商品和服务的7%。

Barnett Rubin is a former State Department adviser² on Afghanistan.

巴内特·鲁宾(Barnett Rubin)是前美国国务院的阿富汗问题顾问。

Rubin described drugs as Afghanistan's "largest industry except for war."

鲁宾称毒品是阿富汗“除了战争以外最大的产业”。

Despite the threats presented by Afghanistan's illegal drug business, experts noted³, the United States and other nations rarely discuss in public the need to address the trade.

专家指出，尽管阿富汗的非法毒品交易带来了威胁，但美国和其他国家很少公开讨论解决这一交易的必要性。

UNODC estimates Afghanistan's output to be more than 80 percent of the worldwide opium and heroin⁴ supplies.

联合国毒品和犯罪问题办公室估计，阿富汗的产量占全世界鸦片和海洛因供应的80%以上。

The Taliban and public officials have long been involved in the drug trade, experts said.

专家表示，塔利班和政府官员长期以来一直参与毒品交易。

Some, however, dispute the amount of the Taliban's involvement.

然而，一些人对塔利班参与的程度保有质疑。

The United Nations and Washington say the Taliban are involved in all parts of drug production, taxation⁵ and shipping⁶.

联合国和华盛顿表示，塔利班参与了毒品生产、税收和运输的所有环节。

U.N. officials report that the Taliban likely earned more than $400 million between 2018 and 2019 from the drug trade.

联合国官员报告称，2018年至2019年期间，塔利班可能从毒品交易中赚取了4亿多美元。

A May 2021 U.S. Special Inspector⁷ General for Afghanistan, or SIGAR, report quoted a U.S. official as estimating the Taliban get up to 60 percent of their yearly money from illegal drugs.

在2021年5月的一份报告中，美国阿富汗特别监察长(SIGAR)援引一名美国官员的估计称，塔利班每年高达60%的资金来自非法毒品。

Some experts dispute that information.

一些专家质疑这一信息。

David Mansfield is a leading researcher on Afghanistan's drug trade.

大卫·曼斯菲尔德是阿富汗毒品贸易的主要研究人员。

He says his studies show the most the Taliban can earn from drugs is about $40 million each year, mainly from taxes on drug production and drug shipments.

他说，他的研究表明，塔利班每年从毒品中获得的最大收入大约是4000万美元，主要来自毒品生产和毒品运输的税收。

The Taliban, he said, make more charging money for legal imports and exports.

他说，塔利班通过合法进出口赚取了更多的费用。

Washington spent an estimated $8.6 billion between 2002 and 2017 to hurt Afghanistan's drug trade.

在2002年至2017年期间，华盛顿估计花费了86亿美元去打击阿富汗的毒品贸易。

The goal was to deny the Taliban financing, said a 2018 SIGAR report.

2018年SIGAR的一份报告称，目标是拒绝塔利班提供资金。

Apart from destroying poppies, the United States and allies backed raids, airstrikes on suspected drug labs and other measures.

除了摧毁罂粟，美国及其盟友还支持对可疑毒品实验室进行空袭和采取其他措施。

Those efforts "didn't really have much success," retired⁸ U.S. Army General Joseph Votel told Reuters.

这些努力“并没有真正取得多大成功，”已退休的美国陆军将军约瑟夫·沃特尔(Joseph Votel)告诉路透社。

Votel commanded U.S. Central Command from 2016-2019.

沃特尔在2016年到2019年期间担任美国中央司令部司令。

Experts said the measures only created anger toward the government in Kabul, and its foreign backers, among farmers and workers who depend on opium production to feed their families.

专家说，这些措施只会在喀布尔的农民和依靠鸦片生产养家糊口的工人中激起对政府及其外国支持者的愤怒。

The Taliban learned that lesson from their ban on poppy growing in 2000, said Brookings Institution Afghan expert Vanda Felbab-Brown.

布鲁金斯学会阿富汗问题专家万达·费尔巴布-布朗说，塔利班从2000年禁止种植罂粟中吸取了教训。

Despite a large decrease in production, the ban created "a huge political storm against the Taliban and it was one reason why there were such dramatic defections after the U.S. invasion," she said.

她说，尽管产量大幅下降，这项禁令还是造成了“一场针对塔利班的巨大政治风暴，这也是美国入侵阿富汗后出现大量倒戈的原因之一。”

So, experts said, it is unlikely the Taliban will forbid poppy growing.

因此，专家表示，塔利班不太可能禁止罂粟种植。

Mansfield said that a future government will need to move carefully to avoid angering its rural base "and provoking resistance and violent rebellion."

曼斯菲尔德说，未来的政府需要谨慎行事，避免激怒其农村基地，避免“引发反抗和暴力叛乱”。

I'm John Russell.

约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。

1 opium   

n.鸦片；adj.鸦片的

参考例句：

• That man gave her a dose of opium.那男人给了她一剂鸦片。
• Opium is classed under the head of narcotic.鸦片是归入麻醉剂一类的东西。

2 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

5 taxation   

n.征税，税收，税金

参考例句：

• He made a number of simplifications in the taxation system.他在税制上作了一些简化。
• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

7 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。