2007年VOA标准英语-US Defense Chief Links Tehran to Arms in Afghan

By Al Pessin
Ramstein Air Base, Germany
13 June 2007

U.S. Defense¹ Secretary Robert Gates says he believes Iran's government is aware of the shipment of significant quantities of Iranian weapons and explosives to Taleban insurgents² in Afghanistan.  Gates spoke³ in Germany Wednesday.  VOA's Al Pessin is traveling with Secretary Gates and filed this report from Ramstein Air Base.

Secretary Gates speaks to reporters in Germany, 13 June 2007

Secretary Gates says he has seen new intelligence since his last, cautious, comments on this issue two weeks ago.  He says the new reports make "pretty clear" that what he calls "fairly substantial" quantities of weapons and explosives are flowing from Iran to Taleban fighters in Afghanistan.

"I haven't seen any intelligence specifically to this effect, but I would say given the quantities that we're seeing, it is difficult to believe that it's associated with smuggling⁴ or the drug business, or that it's taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government," he said.

Secretary Gates' comments came after State Department officials issued somewhat contradictory⁵ remarks on the subject.

State Department Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told CNN there is what he called "irrefutable evidence" Iran's government is involved in shipping⁶ weapons to the Taleban.  Later, State Department spokesman Sean McCormick said the United States has evidence of Iranian arms flowing to Afghanistan but it does not have hard evidence of Iranian government involvement.  The spokesman added that given Iran's past behavior it would be difficult to believe the government was not aware of such shipments.

Iran has denied shipping weapons to the Taleban.

In Germany, Secretary Gates said it is difficult to know why the Iranian government would help the Taleban, while also maintaining good relations with the Afghan government.

"Whether Iran is trying to play both sides of the street, hedge their bets, what their motives⁷ are, other than causing trouble for us, I don't know," he added.

Secretary Gates said he has seen no evidence that Iran's elite⁸ Quds Force is operating in Afghanistan, as the United States says it is in Iraq.  And he also said he has not seen evidence from Afghanistan of the kind of Iranian-made high-powered roadside bombs that have taken a deadly toll⁹ on American forces in Iraq.

Secretary Gates made the comments on his way to Brussels for a NATO defense ministers meeting, where the situation in Afghanistan and the Iranian missile threat to Europe are expected to be major topics of discussion.

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 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

5 contradictory   

adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立

参考例句：

• The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
• What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。

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 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

8 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。