2007年VOA标准英语-First Afghan-Planned Operation Clears Area of T

By Al Pessin
Pentagon
20 June 2007

A senior Afghan military officer in the southeastern part of the country says his forces are implementing¹ the first Afghan-planned and executed operation to clear Taleban fighters from his area and establish government authority. The officer spoke² from Afghanistan to reporters at the Pentagon. VOA's Al Pessin reports.

Afghan National Army soldiers near Spin Boldak, Kandahar province

Afghan Major General Abdul Khaliq says more than 1,400 Afghan troops have been involved in the operation in parts of Ghazni Province for nearly three weeks.

"Within these 20 days of operation, we have opened the schools, clinics and the community centers which the Taleban claimed the ANA and the ANP would not be able to open," said Major General Abdul Khaliq.

"ANA" is the Afghan National Army and "ANP" is the Afghan National Police.

General Khaliq says his forces are supported by troops from the U.S.-led coalition³, which continues to work with Afghan forces in some areas where Taleban insurgents⁴ are active, to supplement NATO security efforts. The general says the effort, called Operation Maiwand, is designed to "separate the people from the insurgents." To do that, he says his forces distributed 180 tons of humanitarian⁵ supplies and provided medical treatment to more than 1,800 people.

General Khaliq says small groups of Taleban fighters challenged his forces, but there were no major battles.

"The Taleban couldn't engage directly with the ANA and ANP because they know that they don't have such force and resistance to have direct engagement with the ANA," he said.

The general says the Taleban remains⁶ a threat because it receives training, weapons and money from al-Qaida sources outside Afghanistan. But he could not comment on claims by some U.S. officials that Iran is sending weapons to the Taleban.

The commander of coalition forces working in support of General Khaliq's troops is U.S. Army Colonel Martin Schweitzer. At the same news conference, he said the general's plan calls for leaving enough Afghan and foreign troops behind when the operation is over to prevent the Taleban from moving back into the area.

"General Khaliq has developed a plan, a stay-behind plan," said Colonel Schweitzer. "There's going to be about four times the amount of security forces from ANA, ANP and coalition that will remain here to further develop and enhance the security environment, allowing the government to get down here to start talking to the people, to start providing for them, particularly in some of these remote village areas."

Colonel Schweitzer says the key to the operation is to convince local people that the Afghan Army and government are a force for good. He says 60 of the 83 local councils in the area have voted to support the government, in spite of Taleban efforts to intimidate⁷ people and to use the media to exaggerate their power. Colonel Schweitzer says that is why Taleban fighters take over police stations, even though, he says, they can't hold them for very long.

"They come in for about an hour or two," he said. "They'll set a room on fire and then as soon as the ANP or ANA come back in force, or coalition with ANA come back in force the Taleban immediately pull out of the district center. Frankly⁸, they control nothing in Afghanistan, not for anything more than an hour."

The VOA reporter in Kandahar province says a district headquarters taken by Taleban forces on Monday, was re-taken by government forces on Tuesday.

Colonel Schweitzer says the Afghan police stations are vulnerable to such attacks and temporary takeovers, at least for now. But he says the Afghan National Army has made great strides in the last two years and now has the lead in dealing⁹ with local people - a situation he says the people much prefer to having foreign troops routinely on their village streets.

1 implementing   

v.实现( implement的现在分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• -- Implementing a comprehensive drug control strategy. ――实行综合治理的禁毒战略。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• He was in no hurry about implementing his unshakable principle. 他并不急于实行他那不可动摇的原则。 来自辞典例句

2 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。

3 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

4 insurgents   

n.起义，暴动，造反( insurgent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The regular troops of Baden joined the insurgents. 巴登的正规军参加到起义军方面来了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Against the Taliban and Iraqi insurgents, these problems are manageable. 要对付塔利班与伊拉克叛乱分子，这些问题还是可以把握住的。 来自互联网

5 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 intimidate   

vt.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• You think you can intimidate people into doing what you want?你以为你可以威胁别人做任何事？
• The first strike capacity is intended mainly to intimidate adversary.第一次攻击的武力主要是用来吓阻敌方的。

8 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。

9 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。