VOA标准英语2010年-NATO Commander: Afghan Civilian Concer

The commander of all NATO forces says he is more concerned about his troops in Afghanistan earning the support of the Afghan people and building the size and competence¹ of their security forces than he is about defeating Taliban forces in battle.

U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis spoke² to VOA Pentagon Correspondent Al Pessin during a visit to Washington.

Admiral James Stavridis (L) talks to VOA's Al Pessin (R), 13 Jan 2010

Admiral Stavridis says when President Barack Obama reviews his new Afghanistan strategy late this year, the key factors will not be related to the number of battles won or enemy fighters killed.

"I would look for polling data that continues to show significant support for the coalition³ and very small support for the Taliban.  Secondly⁴, I would look at the numbers of Afghan security forces.  Thirdly, I would look at the quality of the operations conducted by the Afghan security forces," he said.

The admiral notes that a recent poll done for American, British and German news organizations shows a sharp increase in support for the Afghan government and NATO forces, compared to the same group's results a year ago.  He says a key goal is for that trend to continue, and he says that means, in part, that the Afghan government must fight corruption⁵ and improve services to its people. 

Most of the U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan fall under the admiral's NATO command, led in Kabul by General Stanley McChrystal.  Admiral Stavridis says defeating Taliban units, taking control of more parts of the country and other traditional military measurements are important, but not as important in Afghanistan as many people think.

Former Taliban militants⁶ pray during a ceremony to hand over their weapons to the Afghan government in Kabul, Afghanistan (2009 file photo)

"I would say they fall below the level of importance of the things that I have listed.  In any type of operation like this, we have to put the Afghan people at the center of gravity.  If we take care of the Afghan people, the Taliban will fail," he said.

Admiral Stavridis, who took command of NATO forces worldwide in June, says that will involve efforts by international civilians⁸, as well as military forces.  And he says understanding the Afghan people is a key to his strategic view. 

The admiral says he has not read a stinging criticism of past U.S. and NATO intelligence gathering⁹ in Afghanistan, published last week by his top intelligence officer in the country.  But he indicated his priorities coincide with what Major General Michael Flynn wrote. 

Admiral Stavridis says the Afghan people, rather than the Taliban, need to be the central focus of the allied¹⁰ intelligence effort, and he wants to use the varied¹¹ expertise¹² of NATO member countries to learn as much as possible about how the Afghans live, and what they need and want.  And he says one more thing is crucial.

"We need speed, Al.  We have got to do this fast.  Not because a clock is ticking, but because the 'coin of the realm' is accelerating your knowledge to be inside your opponent's decision and knowledge loop," he said.

The admiral appears to be referring to what the intelligence officer, Major General Flynn, called the importance of solid information to enable senior commanders to "outsmart" the enemy.

Former Taliban militants pray during a ceremony to hand over their weapons to the Afghan government in Kabul, Afghanistan (2009 file photo)

Admiral Stavridis also said NATO member nations, which have been somewhat more willing to commit combat forces and trainers to Afghanistan in recent months, need to be prepared for more casualties as troop numbers and operations ramp¹³ up in the coming months.

"We must not be fearful of casualties if we're going to accomplish our mission.  We simply need to do our mission in a way that reduces them to the absolute minimum," he said.  "So we focus on IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices], we focus on intelligent tactics, we focus on our own use of intelligence.  But we are going to go forward, we are going to work with our civilian⁷ partners.  And I am confident that our military leadership will be successful in their approach," said Stavridis.

The Afghanistan war is not popular in many European NATO member nations, and some of their governments find it politically difficult to send troops, particularly when casualties go up.

The admiral also repeated the U.S. military's endorsement¹⁴ of Pakistan's increased operations against the Taliban, al-Qaida and associated groups on its side of the Afghanistan border.  But he would not comment in detail on the impact of those operations on the insurgents¹⁵' ability to operate inside Afghanistan.

"Could more be done?  Perhaps.  Those are decisions the Pakistanis have to make.  What I am very satisfied with is the interaction between General McChrystal and General [Ashfaq] Kiyani, who is the head of the Pakistani military," he said.  "They are meeting, they are in contact, they are in dialogue about those operations.  I do not want to get into specifics for a variety of obvious reasons.  But I am very comfortable with the cooperation between ISAF and the Pakistani military on the other side of the border," he concluded.

Admiral Stavridis expressed confidence that the international community can defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan.  But he said it will require a comprehensive approach involving civilian efforts as well as military force, and he expects that to be the focus of the London Conference on Afghanistan at the end of this month.

1 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

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 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

5 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

8 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

9 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

10 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

11 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

12 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

13 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

14 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

15 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