VOA慢速英语2021--反塔利班抗议遭遇暴力

Protest Against Taliban Met with Violence

The Taliban violently broke up a protest in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday killing¹ at least one person. The violence came just one day after the militants² promised to respect women's rights and forgive those who resisted them.

In a rare public show of opposition³ to the Taliban, people in the city of Jalalabad raised the national flag a day before Afghanistan's Independence Day, which honors the end of British rule in 1919. They lowered the Taliban flag — a white flag with an Islamic message — that the militants have raised in the areas they captured.

Videos show the Taliban firing into the air and attacking people with sticks to break up the crowd. A local health official said at least one person was killed and six were wounded.

Babrak Amirzada is a reporter for a local news agency. He said he and a TV cameraman from another agency were beaten by the Taliban as they tried to cover the unrest.

More videos from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul appear to show a gathering⁴ of possible opposition leaders. The area is home to the Northern Alliance militias⁵ that allied⁶ with the U.S. against the Taliban in 2001. It is the only area that has not yet fallen to the Taliban.

Those leaders include members of the former government — Vice⁷ President Amrullah Saleh and Defense⁸ Minister Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi. The son of the late Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud was also there.

Saleh said on Twitter that he is the country's rightful president. It is not clear if they plan to oppose the Taliban, who took control over most of the country in a matter of days last week.

Talks among Afghan groups

The Taliban, meanwhile, continued their efforts to form an "inclusive, Islamic government."

Anas Haqqani, a senior leader of a powerful Taliban group, met with former President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in the ousted⁹ government. The U.S. called the Haqqani network a terrorist group in 2012, and its involvement in a future government could result in international sanctions.

A spokesman for Karzai said the early meetings would help to arrange negotiations¹⁰ with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the top Taliban political leader. Baradar returned to Kandahar, the Taliban's birthplace on Tuesday.

Afghan security forces surrendered to the Taliban on Sunday as then-President Ashraf Ghani left Kabul. The foreign ministry¹¹ of the United Arab Emirates said in a statement that Ghani and his family were in the country for "humanitarian¹² considerations."

Afghans looking to leave

Hundreds of people were waiting outside Kabul's international airport early Wednesday. The Taliban demanded to see documents before permitting the rare passenger inside. U.S. officials said Tuesday that the militants had agreed to permit "safe passage" for civilians¹³ with documents looking to leave the country.

Many of the people outside did not appear to have passports, and each time the doorway¹⁴ opened a few centimeters, many tried to push through. The Taliban then fired warning shots to keep them out.

The Taliban had promised Tuesday that they would respect women's rights, forgive those who resisted them and ensure a secure Afghanistan. But witnesses say groups of armed men have been going door to door asking about Afghans who worked with the Americans or the former government. It is unclear if the gunmen are Taliban or criminals acting¹⁵ as if they were militants.

On Wednesday, the U.S., Britain, the European Union and 18 other countries issued a joint¹⁶ statement saying they are "deeply worried" about the Afghan women's "rights to education, work and freedom of movement" under the Taliban.

The statement said, "Any form of discrimination and abuse should be prevented. We in the international community stand ready to assist them with humanitarian aid and support, to ensure that their voices can be heard."

Any future Afghan government will have to deal with the U.S. where $7 billion of Afghan assets are being held. Ajmal Ahmady is head of Afghanistan's Central Bank. He said the country's supply of U.S. dollars is "close to zero." This will likely lead to a decrease in the value of the local money, the afghani, hurting the country's poor.

The "Taliban won militarily — but now have to govern," he wrote on Twitter. "It is not easy."

Words in This Story

sanction – n. an action that is taken or an order that is given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc. — usually plural¹⁷

arrange – v. to organize the details of something before it happens :

birthplace – n. the place where someone was born or where something began

humanitarian – n. a person who works to make other people's lives better

asset – n. something that is owned by a person, company or the like

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

5 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

6 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 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。

9 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

10 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

13 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

14 doorway   

n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径

参考例句：

• They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
• Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。

15 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

16 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

17 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。