VOA标准英语2010年-Karzai Visit Stabilizes Shaky Relation

President Barack Obama, left, and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, right, shake hands following their joint¹ news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, 12 May 2010

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wrapped up an extended trip to the United States Friday.  The four-day visit was designed to highlight unity² as U.S. troops are poised³ for a major offensive against the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar.  The Afghan leader secured a major long-term commitment from the U.S., but differences over future political steps remain.

 When President Obama last year announced the commitment of an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, he also set July 2011 as the date to begin withdrawing troops if security conditions permit.  Congressional Research Service analyst⁴ Ken⁵ Katzman says President Karzai came to Washington seeking some kind of commitment that the U.S. will not forsake⁶ Afghanistan when that date arrives.

"What the Afghans are really looking for out of this visit is a long-term commitment, a sign that the July 2011 deadline to begin a transition or begin a withdrawal⁷ or downshifting is not any real major reduction in the U.S. commitment," he said.  "Karzai really came looking for a sign that the U.S. is not abandoning Afghanistan in July 2011," said Katzman.

It appears that he got that commitment.  From President Obama on down, U.S. officials hastened to reassure⁸ the Afghan leader that the U.S. is in for the long term.  In a joint public appearance with President Karzai, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated⁹ that the new strategic partnership¹⁰ between the two countries will extend beyond the battlefield.

"The enduring partnership will last long beyond any security transition, any withdrawal of combat forces over time," Clinton said.  "We are committed to a strategic partnership with Afghanistan."

The diplomatic reconciliation¹¹ came after several months of sometimes bitter words, even in public, from the U.S. side about President Karzai's alleged¹² lack of commitment to clean up corruption¹³ and the Afghan leader's stinging response decrying¹⁴ what he said was Western pressure.

In their appearances, both the U.S. and Afghan presidents made of point of saying their differences are a normal part of relationships between friendly governments.

But another kind of reconciliation remains¹⁵ a sticking point between Washington and Kabul.  U.S. and Afghan officials have somewhat different approaches on how to deal with the Taliban in a future Afghanistan.

The Kabul government favors reintegration of some Taliban back into society.  As President Karzai pointed¹⁶ out, that would extend to low-level Taliban fighters who are not particularly ideological¹⁷.

"Now, these thousands of the Taliban that you are trying to address and reintegrate are ideologically¹⁸ not against us," said Karzai.  "They're countryside boys who don't hate the United States, perhaps a lot of them would like to visit the United States given the opportunity, who don't hate their own government or their own country, who would not have a problem with our constitution."

The U.S. has no quibble with that, but the Karzai government also favors trying to reach some kind of reconciliation with the upper echelons¹⁹ of the Taliban leadership.  RAND Corporation analyst Jason Campbell says the U.S. has balked²⁰ at the idea that people it deems terrorists would be welcomed back into the political fold.

"President Karzai has now planned for a 'peace jirga' at the end of May, and he would like it to have at least the possibility of some middle and upper Taliban leaders, whereas the administration right now, while they have shown a little bit of flexibility²¹, would still prefer to be in a better position from the standpoint of sort of security.  They would like to have better momentum²² going into such talks," said Campbell.

Secretary Clinton says the reconciliation issue is still an open issue.

"I don't think any of us can predict what the outcome of the next phase will be," said Clinton.  "First, the president has to have his own consultative peace jirga and listen to his own people, because they may have very strong opinions. There may be people that they're willing to see the president discuss potential reconciliation, and then there may be people that they're not."

Some ranking Taliban have been invited to the peace jirga', or grand council, but it is not clear if they will attend.  It is likely to take place even as the U.S. offensive in Kandahar is going on.  The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, says it will probably take until the end of the year before the Kandahar operation can be judged a success or failure.
 

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 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 poised   

a.摆好姿势不动的

参考例句：

• The hawk poised in mid-air ready to swoop. 老鹰在半空中盘旋，准备俯冲。
• Tina was tense, her hand poised over the telephone. 蒂娜心情紧张，手悬在电话机上。

4 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

5 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

6 forsake   

vt.遗弃，抛弃；舍弃，放弃

参考例句：

• She pleaded with her husband not to forsake her.她恳求丈夫不要抛弃她。
• You must forsake your bad habits.你必须革除你的坏习惯。

7 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

8 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

9 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

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 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

12 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

13 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。

14 decrying   

v.公开反对，谴责( decry的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Soon Chinese Internet users, including government agencies, were decrying the' poisonous panda. 不久，中国网民以及政府机构纷纷谴责“影响极坏的熊猫烧香”。 来自互联网
• Democratic leaders are decrying President Bush's plan to indefinitely halt troop withdrawals from Iraq after July. 民主党领导公开谴责布什总统七月后无限停止从伊拉克撤兵的举动。 来自互联网

15 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。

16 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

17 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

18 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

19 echelons   

n.（机构中的）等级，阶层( echelon的名词复数 )；（军舰、士兵、飞机等的）梯形编队

参考例句：

• Officers were drawn largely from the top echelons of society. 这些官员大都来自社会上层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Except in the higher echelons, extensive classification has no place in the classification of vegetation. 除高阶类级之外，外延分类在植物分类中还是没有地位的。 来自辞典例句

20 balked   

v.畏缩不前，犹豫( balk的过去式和过去分词 )；（指马）不肯跑

参考例句：

• He balked in his speech. 他忽然中断讲演。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• They balked the robber's plan. 他们使强盗的计划受到挫败。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

21 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

22 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。