2006年VOA标准英语-Afghanistan's Bid for Foreign Investment a Toug

By Gary Thomas
Washington
16 November 2006

More than 20 years of foreign occupation and civil war has left much of Afghanistan in ruins. As part of its rebuilding effort, the Afghan government is trying to lure¹ foreign investment. But as VOA correspondent Gary Thomas reports, Afghanistan is not an easy sale to potential investors³.

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Hamid Karzai (file photo)  
  
In 2004, three years after the Taleban regime was toppled, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told a joint⁴ meeting of the U.S. Congress the doors to Afghanistan were open to investors.

"To succeed we ask for your continued investment. Afghanistan is open for business, and American companies are most welcome," he said.

Today the Afghan capital Kabul boasts a gleaming shopping mall and one new luxury hotel. Unfortunately, it also has a reinvigorated insurgency⁵ inflicting⁶ new attacks, a booming drug trade, and what one U.N. official labeled "endemic corruption⁷", any one of which makes potential investors nervous.

Yet Afghanistan continues an aggressive campaign to attract foreign investment. At a recent Afghan trade fair in Washington, Atiq Panjshiri, president of the Afghan-American Chamber⁸ of Commerce, said Afghanistan poses potential risks for investors, but also holds great potential rewards.

"The recent surge in the level of violence and security issues, that's a concern of any businessperson anywhere in the world. You have to be concerned. You have to protect your investment. But it should not be a deterrent⁹. Afghanistan has great opportunities for the investor². The government is probably the most friendly in that part of the world for an open market system, and they have a great partnership¹⁰ with the private sector," he said.

The government scored a major business coup¹¹ when the Coca-Cola Company opened a $25 million state-of-the-art bottling plant in Kabul in September, with President Karzai himself inaugurating the plant. Kedri Ozen, the company's communications manager for Eurasia and the Middle East, said Coke already had distribution and manufacturing facilities across Central Asia, and Afghanistan was what he calls the "missing link" in Coca-Cola's regional network.

Proponents¹² of Afghan investment tend to downplay security concerns and underscore what they say is the stability of a democratic government in Kabul.

Commerce Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang says the media overstates the level of violence.

Karl Inderfurth, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia, agrees, saying the security problems of the resurgent Taleban are local, not national.

"The central government is certainly doing all it can to attract investment. An agency has been established for precisely¹³ that purpose. A great deal of Afghanistan is also stable and secure. The problem areas right now are in the south," he said.

But Barnett Rubin, who was a special U.N. advisor¹⁴ during the 2001 talks that produced an interim¹⁵ government, says the Kabul government is shaky because its inability to provide basic services to much of the population has fuelled resentment¹⁶.

"I think we saw it last May, when riots took place in Kabul, how unstable¹⁷ the government was. People at the very top of that government were afraid that the government might be overthrown¹⁸, that there was a danger to the government. They saw how easy it was for a group of rioters to attack the central government," he said.

With a new building in background boy pushes a cart selling cauliflower in front of building destroyed during war in Kabul  
  
But what is the business climate in Afghanistan? A recent World Bank study ranked countries around the world on the ease of doing business. Of the 175 countries ranked, Afghanistan came in near the bottom at 162. Melissa Johns, a World Bank investment policy specialist who worked on the study, says they found that while it was relatively¹⁹ easy to start a business in Afghanistan, there was still plenty of red tape bureaucracy and no legal framework to protect investors.

"Afghanistan just frankly²⁰ doesn't have any legal protections against these matters. Not only are there no disclosure requirements, but the directors can't be held liable for any misdeeds that they do while running the company," she said.

She adds that Afghanistan implemented²¹ no real business reforms in the past year.

"This government that has been in place for a couple of years now has been very optimistic and very open to change and improvement. But I was surprised not to have seen any reforms in Afghanistan last year. I hope we find something different for next year's report. I hope that we see that more legislation has been passed, that more steps have been taken to improve the business environment," she said.

Analysts²² also cite the slow rebuilding of infrastructure²³, such as roads and electricity, and corruption as impediments to luring²⁴ more investment to Afghanistan. During a just-completed U.N. fact-finding mission to Afghanistan, delegation²⁵ head Kenzo Oshima called on the government to do more to fight what he called "endemic corruption" as well as the flourishing illicit²⁶ drug trade in the country.

1 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

2 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 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。

5 insurgency   

n.起义；暴动；叛变

参考例句：

• And as in China, unrest and even insurgency are widespread. 而在中国，动乱甚至暴乱都普遍存在。 来自互联网
• Dr Zyphur is part an insurgency against this idea. 塞弗博士是这一观点逆流的一部分。 来自互联网

6 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。

7 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

8 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

9 deterrent   

n.阻碍物，制止物；adj.威慑的，遏制的

参考例句：

• Large fines act as a deterrent to motorists.高额罚款是对开车的人的制约。
• I put a net over my strawberries as a deterrent to the birds.我在草莓上罩了网，免得鸟歇上去。

10 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

11 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

12 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

13 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

14 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

15 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

16 resentment   

n.怨愤，忿恨

参考例句：

• All her feelings of resentment just came pouring out.她一股脑儿倾吐出所有的怨恨。
• She cherished a deep resentment under the rose towards her employer.她暗中对她的雇主怀恨在心。

17 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

18 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

19 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

20 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

21 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

22 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

23 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

24 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

25 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

26 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。