VOA标准英语2009年-Gates Says NATO Help in Afghanistan May Be Larg

The day after President Obama approved the deployment¹ of 17,000 additional U.S. troops for Afghanistan, Defense² Secretary Robert Gates said he will ask NATO allies to also send more troops to help provide security for the country's presidential and provincial³ elections, scheduled for August. But the secretary says in the long term the allies are more likely to provide civilian⁴ help to the Afghan government than additional troops.
　
Defense Secretary Robert Gates (File)

Gates spoke⁵ on his way to Krakow, Poland for a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

The secretary's emphasis on civilian help from NATO reflects the recognition in the U.S. government that the allies have provided just about all the troops they are willing to provide, currently about 32,000. Gates says he still wants more NATO troops for the elections in August, for which he says the commitment has been disappointing, but he says those may be short-term deployments.

"We really need additional help on the civilian side, there needs to be a strengthening on the civilian side, as we are strengthening on the military side. And frankly⁶ I think that it may be, I hope that it may be, easier for our allies to do that than significant troop increases, especially for the longer term," he said.

Secretary Gates says the NATO civilians⁷ can help on projects related to improving the performance of the Afghan government, improving the legal system and fighting corruption⁸ and the drug trade.

He also called on NATO members to send more military trainers to Afghanistan to help the effort to increase the size of the country's army to 134,000. The Afghanistan war is not popular in many NATO countries, and many leaders are concerned that sending more troops, who could potentially suffer more casualties, would hurt them with voters, or even bring down their coalitions⁹.

President Obama has ordered a senior-level Afghanistan strategy review, with the results expected before he meets with his NATO counterparts at their summit at the beginning of April. But on Tuesday the president approved the deployment of 17,000 more U.S. troops, which will bring the total U.S. commitment to about 55,000 by June.

Secretary Gates says the troops are needed to improve security, regardless of exactly what strategy the president adopts.

"I think that these additional numbers give us a better chance to provide the kind of security for the population that is necessary, frankly, for economic development and for governance to take hold, and so on," he said.

But the secretary says how long the troops stay, and whether they are replaced when their tours of duty end, will depend on the outcome of the strategy review. He also says the deployments will result in a reduction of the U.S. troop presence in Iraq, because some of the units being sent to Afghanistan had been scheduled for Iraq deployments.

Secretary Gates is the only member of the cabinet of former-President George W. Bush asked to stay on by President Obama, and the Krakow meeting Thursday and Friday is the first time the secretary is meeting with his NATO colleagues since the change of U.S. administrations a month ago. He said he is bringing new message.

"The message is that it is a new administration. And the administration is prepared, as the president's decision made clear yesterday, to make additional commitments to Afghanistan, but there clearly will be expectations that the allies must do more as well," he said.

Secretary Gates also says there are ways non-NATO nations can continue to help in Afghanistan, particularly by providing money to help pay for the army expansion and civilian development projects.

 

1 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

2 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。

3 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 coalitions   

结合体，同盟( coalition的名词复数 )； （两党或多党）联合政府

参考例句：

• History testifies to the ineptitude of coalitions in waging war. 历史昭示我们，多数国家联合作战，其进行甚为困难。
• All the coalitions in history have disintegrated sooner or later. 历史上任何联盟迟早都垮台了。