Prime Minister Gordon Brown has hailed the British offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province a success. But that call is getting a mixed reception as the British public grows weary of the country's involvement there.
英国首相布朗赞扬英国在阿富汗赫尔曼德省的袭击行动取得了胜利。但是英国公众对他的评论反应不一，因为民众对卷入阿富汗战事日生厌倦。
For the past five weeks, British forces have been clearing the territory between Lashkar Gah and Girishk in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Nine British soldiers have died in the operation dubbed Panther's Claw.
英国军队过去五星期来一直在扫荡阿富汗赫尔曼德省拉什卡尔加和格里什克之间的地区。有九名英国军人在这称为“豹爪行动”的战役中牺牲。
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pleased with the results.
英国首相布朗对行动的结果感到满意。
"Now that Operation Panther's Claw has shown that it can bring success and the first phase of that operation is over, it is time to commemorate all those soldiers who have given their lives and to thank all our British soldiers for the determination, the professionalism and the courage that they have been showing," said Mr. Brown.
布朗说：“如今‘豹爪行动’已经显示能够取得成功，这一战役的第一阶段已经结束，现在是表彰所有那些为之捐躯的士兵、并感谢我们全体英国军人所表现的决心、专业技能和勇敢精神的时候了。”
And facing a skeptical public, the British leader reiterated his contention that fighting in Afghanistan is necessary to keep Britain safe.
这位英国领导人在公众持怀疑态度的情况下重申了他的论点，即为了维护英国的安全有必要在阿富汗作战。
"What we have actually done is make the land secure for about 100,000 people. What we have done is pushed back the Taliban and what we have done also is start to break that chain of terror that links the mountains of Afghanistan and in Pakistan to the streets of Britain," Mr. Brown said.
布朗说：“我们实际上做的是让这片约有十万居民的土地安全。我们已经做到击退塔利班，也做到了开始打断从阿富汗山区到巴基斯坦并通往英国街道的恐怖锁链。”
But international security expert Paul Cornish from the Chatham House in London says it is too early to call the British operation in Helmand province a success. Securing the land he says is one thing, holding it is another.
但是设在伦敦的英国皇家国际事务研究所的国际安全问题专家保罗.科尼什说，要说英国在赫尔曼德省的军事行动已大功告成还为时过早。他说，保卫这片土地的安全是一回事，而守住这一安全局面却是另一回事。
"They have gone through the past month or so of very hard effort to reach the point where they can begin to consolidate and control ground that they have won so, by no means this is over yet.... The effort has been to squeeze the Taliban out of certain areas and the challenge now is to hold those areas and maintain dominance of those areas that is surely what the whole operation has been, has been all about," Cornish said.
科尼什说：“他们经过差不多过去一个月时间的艰巨努力，已达到开始能稳固控制已夺取的地区的地步，但是这决不意味大功告成。他们作出的努力把塔利班赶出了某些地区，而目前的问题是守住那些地区、并且在那些地区继续维持控制地位，这才是整个战役行动的真正目的和全部目的。”
While talk of what success is and how to define it went on in London, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told NATO colleagues in Brussels that the current operations should be seen as an opportunity to bring moderate Taliban members into the political process.
伦敦方面正在谈论什么才意味着这一战役的成功。英国外交大臣米利班德同时在布鲁塞尔对北约外长们说，目前的战役行动应当被视为把塔利班温和派引入政治进程的机会。
NATO has nearly 60,000 troops in Afghanistan, but few alliance members wholeheartedly support the deployment, with many questioning what the North Atlantic alliance is doing there in the first place.
北约在阿富汗有近六万人的部队，但是很少北约成员国支持这一部署行动，许多成员国对究竟为什么北约要派部队去那里表示质疑。 |