VOA标准英语2009年-Pakistan's Foreign Minister Says Taliban i

By Meredith Buel
Washington
08 October 2009

 
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Pakistan's Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, said Wednesday terrorists are in retreat in his country and the Taliban are in disarray¹. The foreign minister made his comments during an address in Washington.

Monday's deadly suicide bombing inside the heavily guarded U.N. World Food Program headquarters in Islamabad underscores the problems facing Pakistan's government as it attempts to secure parts of the country infiltrated³ or controlled by militants⁴.

Pakistani officials say they expect more attacks by extremists as the military prepares to launch a major offensive in South Waziristan, a rugged⁵ tribal⁶ region that is considered a Taliban stronghold.

Pakistan has had success in driving insurgents⁷ from some regions in the northwest of the country. On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said his country is at a crucial phase in its fight against terrorism. "Terrorists are in retreat, with their top leadership in [the] Malakand [region] and [the] Swat [Valley] either captured or killed. The leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, is dead. The Taliban in the tribal regions are in disarray," he said.

Pakistani officials say Taliban leaders in Waziristan recently gathered to plan attacks to avenge⁸ Mehsud's death. He was killed in August in an apparent U.S. missile strike.

Foreign Minister Qureshi said the Pakistani military's operations in the tribal areas are part of a national strategy to deny physical, political and ideological⁹ opportunities to terrorists and extremists.

"Experience gained from military operations in [the] Swat [Valley], the challenges of managing an internally displaced population, and the subsequent reconstruction¹⁰ and rehabilitation¹¹ efforts serve as a template for further operations in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan," he said.

Qureshi's speech to the Council on Foreign Relations comes as there is intense debate here in Washington over whether U.S. President Barack Obama should deploy¹² more troops to Afghanistan.

The top American commander in Afghanistan has warned that the United States might lose the conflict if additional military forces are not sent to the country.

Pakistan's foreign minister declined to comment on the issue. But he said driving the Taliban from what had been safe havens¹³ in Pakistan should help the effort to bring stability to neighboring Afghanistan.

"Instability in Afghanistan, especially in the south and east, inevitably¹⁴ spills over to Pakistan. The converse¹⁵ is also true. If Pakistan is back on the path towards sustainable development that extends all the way to our tribal region and up to the border with Afghanistan, it cannot but have a stabilizing¹⁶ effect on Afghanistan," he said.

It is not clear when Pakistan's army will begin its operation in South Waziristan, which is believed to be a possible hiding place for al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin² Laden¹⁷.

Qureshi said Pakistan's military is ready to take action. "If the security forces of Pakistan knew where he was, we would get him. We would get him. By doing that, we would be scoring a huge point in demonstrating our commitment to a larger cause," he said.

The foreign minister's Washington visit follows a decision by the U.S. Congress last week to approve a $7.5 billion civilian¹⁸ aid program for Pakistan.

Qureshi called the aid an investment in American and global security.

1 disarray   

n.混乱，紊乱，凌乱

参考例句：

• His personal life fell into disarray when his wife left him.妻子离去后，他的个人生活一片混乱。
• Our plans were thrown into disarray by the rail strike.铁路罢工打乱了我们的计划。

2 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

3 infiltrated   

adj.[医]浸润的v.（使）渗透，（指思想）渗入人的心中( infiltrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The headquarters had been infiltrated by enemy spies. 总部混入了敌方特务。
• Many Chinese idioms have infiltrated into the Japanese language. 许多中国成语浸透到日语中。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 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。

5 rugged   

adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的

参考例句：

• Football players must be rugged.足球运动员必须健壮。
• The Rocky Mountains have rugged mountains and roads.落基山脉有崇山峻岭和崎岖不平的道路。

6 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

7 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

8 avenge   

v.为...复仇，为...报仇

参考例句：

• He swore to avenge himself on the mafia.他发誓说要向黑手党报仇。
• He will avenge the people on their oppressor.他将为人民向压迫者报仇。

9 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

10 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

11 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

12 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

13 havens   

n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
• Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网

14 inevitably   

adv.不可避免地；必然发生地

参考例句：

• In the way you go on,you are inevitably coming apart.照你们这样下去，毫无疑问是会散伙的。
• Technological changes will inevitably lead to unemployment.技术变革必然会导致失业。

15 converse   

vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反

参考例句：

• He can converse in three languages.他可以用3种语言谈话。
• I wanted to appear friendly and approachable but I think I gave the converse impression.我想显得友好、平易近人些,却发觉给人的印象恰恰相反。

16 stabilizing   

n.稳定化处理[退火]v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
• These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句

17 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

18 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。