VOA标准英语2010年-NATO Commander Hails Afghan Army Progr

NATO's top commander, Admiral James Stavridis, is visiting Afghanistan after announcing a restructuring of NATO forces before a planned offensive in the country's south aimed at eliminating the Taliban's presence and influence.  Stavridis is also reviewing the progress of the new Afghan army.

On a dusty wind-swept military camp outside the Afghan capital Kabul, NATO's top commander, Admiral James Stavridis addresses hundreds of soldiers in the new Afghan army.

"I am the commander of 47 nations  who are together with you in this beautiful country," said Admiral Stavridis. "My job is to bring together the military capability¹ to help you as you train to build your country."

One of NATO's big jobs in Afghanistan is training the police and army.  The police force is expected to grow to 134,000 officers in the next 16 months, a 35 percent increase.  By then the Afghan National Army should have 52 percent more soldiers, totaling more than 171,000 men.

British Brigadier General Simon Levey is in charge of army training.  He says the Afghan soldiers are learning well, but what he really lacks is mid-level officers.

"The one thing I have not got is experience," said General Levey. "I can give them training, but I cannot buy them experience.  That takes time and that is the biggest challenge."

Levey and his NATO forces basically run the whole training program.  Ultimately that is supposed to change.

"It is a long-term transitional process whereby the Afghan institutions themselves are able to do all their own training," he said. "At the moment we are training and mentoring² them.  Over time, we will just reduce to mentoring, and finally just to observing."

Parts of the new Afghan army, along with thousands of U.S. troops, are moving into the southern Afghanistan Taliban heartland around Kandahar.  The intention there is for Afghans and NATO troops of the International Security Assistance Force to curtail³ Taliban influence in the province.

NATO military chief Stavridis is optimistic.

"By partnering together with the security forces in Afghanistan, ISAF, our military side, is making great strides in security and I believe with confidence the international community coming here together will create the strides in governance and economy and development that we need to move forward," he said.

Officials here say the mission in the south will be pivotal to the overall success in Afghanistan and a crucial test of the new Afghan army and police.
 

1 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

2 mentoring   

n.mentoring是一种工作关系。mentor通常是处在比mentee更高工作职位上的有影响力的人。他/她有比‘mentee’更丰富的工作经验和知识，并用心支持mentee的职业（发展）。v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• One of the most effective instruments for coaching and mentoring is the "role rehearsal" . 辅导和教学的最有效的手段之一是“角色排练。” 来自辞典例句
• Bell Canada called their mentoring system a buddy-buddy system. 加拿大贝尔公司称他们的训导系统是伙伴—伙伴系统。 来自互联网

3 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。