奥巴马就美国在阿富汗的战略发表声明

2015-03-13 14:34:57来源：网络

　　为了方便同学们的学习，新东方在线口译网为大家准备了奥巴马就美国在阿富汗的战略发表声明，快来跟着世界名人来学学英语演讲吧!更多相关资讯，尽在新东方口译网。

　　Good afternoon, everybody. As you know, this weekend, I traveled to Afghanistan to thank our men and women in uniform and our deployed civilians, on behalf of a grateful nation, for the extraordinary sacrifices they make on behalf of our security. I was also able to meet with our commanding General and Ambassador to review the progress that we’ve made. And today, I’d like to update the American people on the way forward in Afghanistan and how, this year, we will bring America’s longest war to a responsible end.

　　The United States did not seek this fight. We went into Afghanistan out of necessity, after ournation was attacked by al Qaeda on September 11th, 2001. We went to war against al Qaedaand its extremist allies with the strong support of the American people and theirrepresentatives in Congress; with the international community and our NATO allies; and withthe Afghan people, who welcomed the opportunity of a life free from the dark tyranny ofextremism.

　　We have now been in Afghanistan longer than many Americans expected. But make no mistake-- thanks to the skill and sacrifice of our troops, diplomats, and intelligence professionals, wehave struck significant blows against al Qaeda’s leadership, we have eliminated Osama binLaden, and we have prevented Afghanistan from being used to launch attacks against ourhomeland. We have also supported the Afghan people as they continue the hard work ofbuilding a democracy. We’ve extended more opportunities to their people, including womenand girls. And we’ve helped train and equip their own security forces.

　　Now we’re finishing the job we started. Over the last several years, we’ve worked to transitionsecurity responsibilities to the Afghans. One year ago, Afghan forces assumed the lead forcombat operations. Since then, they’ve continued to grow in size and in strength, while makinghuge sacrifices for their country. This transition has allowed us to steadily draw down our ownforces -- from a peak of 100,000 U.S. troops, to roughly 32,000 today.

　　2014, therefore, is a pivotal year. Together with our allies and the Afghan government, we haveagreed that this is the year we will conclude our combat mission in Afghanistan. This is also ayear of political transition in Afghanistan. Earlier this spring, Afghans turned out in the millionsto vote in the first round of their presidential election -- defying threats in order to determinetheir own destiny. And in just over two weeks, they will vote for their next President, andAfghanistan will see its first democratic transfer of power in history.

　　In the context of this progress, having consulted with Congress and my national securityteam, I’ve determined the nature of the commitment that America is prepared to makebeyond 2014. Our objectives are clear: Disrupting threats posed by al Qaeda; supportingAfghan security forces; and giving the Afghan people the opportunity to succeed as theystand on their own.

　　Here’s how we will pursue those objectives. First, America’s combat mission will be over by theend of this year. Starting next year, Afghans will be fully responsible for securing their country.American personnel will be in an advisory role. We will no longer patrol Afghan cities or towns,mountains or valleys. That is a task for the Afghan people.

　　Second, I’ve made it clear that we’re open to cooperating with Afghans on two narrow missionsafter 2014: training Afghan forces and supporting counterterrorism operations against theremnants of al Qaeda.

　　Today, I want to be clear about how the United States is prepared to advance those missions.At the beginning of 2015, we will have approximately 98,000 U.S. -- let me start that over,just because I want to make sure we don’t get this written wrong. At the beginning of 2015, wewill have approximately 9,800 U.S. servicemembers in different parts of the country, togetherwith our NATO allies and other partners. By the end of 2015, we will have reduced thatpresence by roughly half, and we will have consolidated our troops in Kabul and on BagramAirfield. One year later, by the end of 2016, our military will draw down to a normal embassypresence in Kabul, with a security assistance component, just as we’ve done in Iraq.

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