-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Eight years after the terror strike on the United States, which prompted an invasion of Afghanistan to oust1 the Taliban, there are indications that the insurgents3 are continuing to widen their reach inside the country. Meanwhile, some high-ranking British and American officials are expressing mounting concern about Afghanistan's fraud-tainted4 election process.
US soldier stands guard near site of suicide attack in Mehterlam, 02 Sep 2009
A respected international think tank has released a new map showing, for the first time, the Taliban have a "permanent presence" in 80 percent of Afghanistan. "Permanent presence" in a province is defined as one or more insurgent2 attacks - lethal5 and non-lethal - per week.
Alexander Jackson is a policy analyst6 at the International Council on Security and Development in London.
"We're now seeing Taliban control across the country. And one of the most significant things that we're seeing in this latest map is the increased level of Taliban presence in the north of the country. Provinces such as Kunduz and Balkh, which previously7 were relatively8 stable, are now seeing very high levels of Taliban activity," he said.
And that has resulted in a drastic increase of insurgent attacks against Afghan government, international and civilian9 targets in those areas. The report's release comes at a sensitive time.
The Obama administration is debating whether to deepen its commitment to the war in Afghanistan, which is becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States.
The current government in Kabul appears to be facing a more immediate10 threat, however, not from the Taliban but due to concerns about its own credibility.
Rising concerns are being voiced by both Afghans and the international community about how the August 20th presidential election was carried out. Partial - but disputed - results show incumbent11 President Hamid Karzai with a comfortable lead.
David Miliband (File photo)
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has told BBC Television that Afghanistan needs a credible12 government that can actually lead that country in a serious way. Miliband is expressing concerns about the serious fraud allegations stemming from last month's election. He says "free and fair" would not be an accurate description of the balloting14.
But the top U.S. diplomat15 for Afghanistan has told the British broadcaster a rerun of the tainted election is "out of the question." Richard Holbrooke, in a BBC interview, said a drawn-out process would benefit the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Full preliminary election tabulations are expected to be released Saturday by the country's government-appointed Independent Election Commission. But another entity16, the U.N.-supervised Election Complaints Commission, is ordering a partial recount and says it is investigating hundreds of serious fraud allegations.
President Karzai has more than 50 percent of the vote - enough to avoid a run-off election against challenger Abdullah Abdullah. But the former foreign minister says he will not accept the results, alleging17 favoritism in the process for the incumbent and the inclusion of tainted votes amid widespread reports of wholesale18 ballot13 box stuffing by Karzai supporters.
In the eastern part of the country, two more soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force have been killed. This year has become the deadliest for the foreign troops since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.
1 oust | |
vt.剥夺,取代,驱逐 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 insurgent | |
adj.叛乱的,起事的;n.叛乱分子 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 insurgents | |
n.起义,暴动,造反( insurgent的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 tainted | |
adj.腐坏的;污染的;沾污的;感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 );使污染;败坏;被污染,腐坏,败坏 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 lethal | |
adj.致死的;毁灭性的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 relatively | |
adv.比较...地,相对地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 civilian | |
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 immediate | |
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 incumbent | |
adj.成为责任的,有义务的;现任的,在职的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 credible | |
adj.可信任的,可靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 ballot | |
n.(不记名)投票,投票总数,投票权;vi.投票 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 balloting | |
v.(使)投票表决( ballot的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 diplomat | |
n.外交官,外交家;能交际的人,圆滑的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 entity | |
n.实体,独立存在体,实际存在物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 alleging | |
断言,宣称,辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 wholesale | |
n.批发;adv.以批发方式;vt.批发,成批出售 | |
参考例句: |
|
|