VOA标准英语2009年-US Denies Aid Plan Intrudes on Pakistan's

By David Gollust
Washington
13 October 2009

 
Pakistani FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi, 12 Oct 2009
The Obama administration and Congressional leaders reiterated¹ Tuesday that a planned long-term U.S. civilian² aid program for Pakistan would not impinge on that country's sovereignty. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi paid his second visit to Washington in as many weeks Tuesday to discuss terms of the aid legislation, which have set off a political controversy³ in Islamabad.

Both administration officials and Congressional leaders say the terms of the aid plan are not out of the ordinary, and that they hope Senate clarifications to be given to the Pakistani foreign minister will ease the political furor⁴ in Islamabad.

The package under which Pakistan is to get $1.5 billion in U.S. non-military aid in each of the next five years was hailed by both governments when it was overwhelmingly approved by the House and Senate last month.

But some Pakistani political factions⁵ and the country's powerful military have been bitterly critical of provisions in the legislation which, among other things, requires the Obama administration to report to Congress every six months on whether Pakistan's newly-democratic government is exercising effective civilian control over the military.

It also says Pakistan must show progress in ending support for terrorist groups and dismantling⁷ radical⁸ factions based on its soil.

At the strong urging of the Pakistani military, Foreign Minister Qureshi was sent back to Washington, where he had been only a week ago, to raise concerns over the bill's language with Congress and the administration.

Democrat⁶ Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said after meeting the Pakistani envoy⁹ that the legislation does not need to be changed but that Qureshi would get written clarifications of terms of the measure he said have been inaccurately¹⁰ characterized by some quarters in Pakistan.

There were similar comments from Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P.J. Crowley, who joined Kerry in denying the bill would impinge on Pakistan's sovereignty.

"We recognize that there have been questions raised in the political debate in Pakistan. Obviously we think that debate is healthy. We're going to help the foreign minister answer the questions that have been raised in this debate. We do not think the bill in any way impinges on Pakistani sovereignty. There are strict measures of financial accountability, but the Congress has imposed those on the U.S. executive branch," he said.

The authorization¹¹ bill was framed as an effort to regularize a U.S. civilian aid program which has fluctuated over the years depending on regional events. It would be in addition to a military aid program for Pakistan which has averaged about $1 billion a year since 2001.

Senator Kerry said the package is intended to be a true sign of friendship for Pakistan, while spokesman Crowley said it creates balance in the U.S. aid program and that it is hard to see how that impedes¹² Pakistan's military. "From our standpoint the bill is a very important step forward in terms of balancing the types of assistance that we would provide the Pakistan government - supporting consolidation¹³ of democratic institutions, expanding the rule of law, building the capacity of government institutions, promoting respect for internationally-recognized human rights, promoting economic freedoms, sustainable economic development. This is the support that we believe is right for Pakistan and right for much of the world," he said.

In addition to Senator Kerry, Foreign Minister Qureshi met with U.S. special representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and White House National Security Adviser¹⁴ James Jones.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, who said he thinks opponents of the measure are misinformed or misinterpreting it for political reasons, said he expects President Obama to sign it into law soon.

Separate appropriations¹⁵ legislation will be needed before actual delivery of the funds.

 

1 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

2 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。

3 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

4 furor   

n.狂热；大骚动

参考例句：

• His choice of words created quite a furor.他的措辞引起了相当大的轰动。
• The half hour lecture caused an enormous furor.那半小时的演讲引起了极大的轰动。

5 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

6 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。

7 dismantling   

（枪支）分解

参考例句：

• The new government set about dismantling their predecessors' legislation. 新政府正着手废除其前任所制定的法律。
• The dismantling of a nuclear reprocessing plant caused a leak of radioactivity yesterday. 昨天拆除核后处理工厂引起了放射物泄漏。

8 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

9 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

10 inaccurately   

不精密地，不准确地

参考例句：

• The money mechanism began to work stiffly and inaccurately. 贷币机构开始周转不灵和不准确了。
• Court records reveal every day how inaccurately "eyewitnesses'see. 法庭记录每天都显露出“见证人”看得多不准确。

11 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

12 impedes   

阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• High packing density greatly impedes the cooling of the array. 高存贮密度很不利于阵列的散热。
• The inflexibility of the country's labor market seriously impedes its economic recovery. 该国劳工市场缺乏灵活性，这严重阻碍了它的经济恢复。

13 consolidation   

n.合并,巩固

参考例句：

• The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民，对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• The state ensures the consolidation and growth of the state economy. 国家保障国营经济的巩固和发展。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法

14 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。

15 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件