VOA标准英语2010年-NATO Says 30 Days Needed to Secure Mar

US Marines with NATO forces keep vigil as Marines and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers setup a joint¹ military base in north of Marjah, city of Helmand province, 18 Feb 2010

A top NATO commander in southern Afghanistan said Thursday that allied² troops will need another 25 to 30 days to overcome tough resistance from Taliban fighters to secure the town of Marjah, six days after international forces launched a major offensive there. At least five NATO soldiers, 15 civilians⁴ and 40 Taliban militants⁶ have been killed since the start of the operation on Saturday.

About 15,000 NATO and Afghan troops have secured key parts of Marjah, but continue to face attacks from skilled snipers and numerous hidden bombs.

The military move on the town is the biggest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in response to the al-Qaida terrorist attacks on the United States.

Stubborn Taliban resistance, coupled with restrictive rules on the use of heavy weaponry to protect civilians, have slowed the advance.

Briefing reporters at the Pentagon via satellite from southern Afghanistan, British Army Major General Nick Carter said Afghan and NATO soldiers continue to face major opposition⁷ from Taliban militants. "In Marjah itself, there remains⁸ stiff resistance from the insurgents⁹, and U.S. Marines, in partnership¹⁰ with Afghan security forces, are still fighting intense series of actions in the process of clearing Marjah as a whole," he said.

Carter predicted it could take another month to secure Marjah, and more time to convince the local population to trust the Afghan government.

The general said plans call for NATO to rush in a civilian³ administration, restore public services and pour in aid to try to win the loyalty¹¹ of the population and prevent the Taliban from returning. "So I guess, looking downstream, in three-month's time or thereabouts, we should have a pretty fair idea about whether we've been successful.  But I would be very cautious about any triumphalism just yet."

Carter said soldiers are moving slowly through Marjah and generally are using light weapons in an effort to protect the tens of thousands of civilians who live in the town. "There is a significant threat from improvised¹² explosive devices, and these have to be cleared very systemically and very meticulously¹³, particularly, as the civilian population is still on the ground in the area of Marjah itself.  And what we don't want are civilians running into these mines and improvised explosive devices," he said.

The fighting came as Afghan officials reported two senior Taliban commanders acting¹⁴ as so-called "shadow governors" in northern Afghanistan have been arrested in Pakistan.

In addition, Pakistani officials say several al-Qaida linked militants have been arrested in the southern port town of Karachi - just days after U.S. and Pakistani officials revealed they have been interrogating¹⁵ the Taliban's top operational commander, after capturing him in Karachi.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell says the Taliban is being "squeezed" in Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Our hope is clearly that this is creating a certain amount of discontent, worry, turmoil¹⁶ within the organization, such that it is, that Taliban fighters are going to think twice about remaining loyal to this cause, and that this will ultimately adversely¹⁷ impact the momentum¹⁸ that they have enjoyed over the past several months," he said.

Marjah has long been controlled by drug traffickers and the Taliban.

The offensive by allied forces is considered a key test of U.S. President Barack Obama's strategy for reversing the rise of the militant⁵ group, while protecting the civilian Afghan population.

 

1 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

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 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

8 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。

9 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

10 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

11 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

12 improvised   

a.即席而作的,即兴的

参考例句：

• He improvised a song about the football team's victory. 他即席创作了一首足球队胜利之歌。
• We improvised a tent out of two blankets and some long poles. 我们用两条毛毯和几根长竿搭成一个临时帐蓬。

13 meticulously   

adv.过细地，异常细致地；无微不至；精心

参考例句：

• The hammer's silvery head was etched with holy runs and its haft was meticulously wrapped in blue leather. 锤子头是纯银制成的，雕刻着神圣符文，而握柄则被精心地包裹在蓝色的皮革中。 来自辞典例句
• She is always meticulously accurate in punctuation and spelling. 她的标点和拼写总是非常精确。 来自辞典例句

14 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

15 interrogating   

n.询问技术v.询问( interrogate的现在分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询

参考例句：

• She was no longer interrogating but lecturing. 她已经不是在审问而是在教训人了。 来自辞典例句
• His face remained blank, interrogating, slightly helpless. 他的面部仍然没有表情，只带有询问的意思，还有点无可奈何。 来自辞典例句

16 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

17 adversely   

ad.有害地

参考例句：

• We commented adversely upon the imbecility of that message of telegraphic style. 我们对着这条电报式的愚蠢的留言发泄了一通不满。
• Widely fluctuating exchange rates may adversely affect international trade. 浮动幅度很大的汇率可能会对国际贸易产生有害的影响。

18 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。