美国国家公共电台 NPR 塔利班一天攻陷阿富汗三座主要城市（在线收听）

The Taliban is making major gains in Afghanistan, taking control of three cities on Sunday.

塔利班正在阿富汗取得重大进展，他们上周日控制了三个城市。

Officials in the northern province of Kunduz say the governor's office, the police headquarters and the main prison are now in Taliban hands.

北部昆都士省的官员表示，省长办公室、警察总部和主要监狱现在均掌握在塔利班手中。

It's one of three major cities to be claimed by insurgents in a single day,

这是叛乱分子在一天内夺取的三个主要城市之一，

the most significant gain by the Taliban since the final phase of the U.S. troop withdrawal began.

是自美军撤离最后阶段开始以来塔利班取得的最重大进展。

And joining us now to talk about all of this is Susannah George from Kabul. She's a reporter with The Washington Post. Thanks for being with us, Susannah.

现在苏珊娜·乔治将从喀布尔和我们进行详细讨论。她是《华盛顿邮报》的记者。谢谢你和我们连线，苏珊娜。

Thank you so much.

非常感谢。

So how significant is this, these advances over the weekend? What does this mean in terms of the Taliban's fight to take hold of the whole country?

那上周末的这些进展有多重要？就塔利班夺取整个国家的斗争而言，这意味着什么？

These advances are incredibly significant.

这些进展意义重大。

The Taliban's sweep across Afghanistan that began not long after the final phase of the withdrawal of foreign forces began — that was in early May —

塔利班在阿富汗全境的扫荡始于外国军队撤离的最后阶段，即5月初，

it happened a lot faster than U.S. and Afghan officials were anticipating.

其速度比美国和阿富汗官员预期的要快得多。

And now it seems this change or shift in Taliban tactics to move away from concentrating on urban — on rural areas to now concentrating on urban areas in cities.

现在，塔利班的策略似乎发生了转变，从以农村为中心转向以城市为中心。

This is also happening at a much faster pace than people anticipated.

这一变化的速度也比人们预期的要快得多。

So not only is it the places that the Taliban have decided to focus their attacks.

塔利班不仅决定在这些地方发动袭击。

Kunduz is an incredibly important city to the Afghan government

昆都士对阿富汗政府来说是一个非常重要的城市，

because of where it lies along trade routes but also the speed with which these attacks appear to be having some success.

因为它位于贸易路线沿线上，而且这些袭击似乎取得了一些成功。

Let's talk about that speed. How is it that the Taliban fighters have been able to move so quickly?

我们来谈谈速度。塔利班武装分子为何能行动得这么快？

Well, when I talk to Afghan forces on the ground, what they tell me is that — the first thing they mention is air strikes.

我采访阿富汗地面部队时，他们告诉我……他们首先提到的是空袭。

They say that if only they had the level of U.S. air support that they had when forces were here in full, they — these Taliban advances — we would not be seeing them.

他们表示，如果他们拥有美军驻扎在这里时的空中支援水平，我们就不会看到塔利班像现在这样取得进展。

But there's a lot of other factors that go into that.

但还有很多其他因素。

There is the lack of U.S. support on the ground in case Afghan forces who are launching an operation on their own get into trouble.

如果自行发动行动的阿富汗军队陷入困境，地面上缺乏美国的支持。

There is the lack now of U.S. medevac assistance.

现在还缺乏美国医疗救护人员的援助。

And what these capabilities — when you take these out, what they do is they really do damage the morale of Afghan forces.

这些能力——在拿走这些能力之后，的确会损害阿富汗军队的士气。

And it undermines their willingness to conduct operations on their own or to hold a checkpoint in a remote area.

这也削弱了他们自行开展行动或在偏远地区设立检查站的意愿。

And so these are the things that have really, all added together, allowed the Taliban to gain the momentum that they have.

所有这些因素加在一起，使得塔利班得以获得势头。

Quickly, the Biden administration wants to get most U.S. troops out of Afghanistan by the end of the month.

拜登政府希望在本月底前将大部分美军撤出阿富汗。

Is there any indication that these developments over the weekend could impact that timeline?

有没有迹象表明，上周末的这些事态发展会影响这一时间表？

We have not seen any indication of that at all on this side.

我们在这方面完全没有看到任何迹象。

But what we have heard is that the U.S. has not made a decision about whether or not U.S. airstrikes will continue in support of Afghan forces after the August 31 deadline.

但据我们了解，美国尚未决定是否在8月31日最后期限过后继续进行开展空袭，以支持阿富汗部队。

Well, thank you so much. Washington Post reporter Susannah George in Kabul.

非常感谢你。以上是《华盛顿邮报》记者苏珊娜·乔治从喀布乐带来的报道。

Thank you.

谢谢。