奧巴馬宣佈推遲從阿富汗撤軍
President Barack Obama has announced a major policy reversal on Afghanistan that will see 5,500 US troops remain in the country when he leaves office in January 2017 despite his earlier pledge to pull out next year.
巴拉克攠巴馬(Barack Obama)總統宣佈在美國對阿富汗政策上作出重大逆轉，這意味着在他2017年1月離任時，將仍有5500名美軍官兵留在阿富汗，儘管他此前承諾明年從該國撤出美軍。
Speaking at the White House, Mr Obama vowed to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through most of 2016, before cutting numbers to the new level before the end of his eight-year presidency.
在白宮發表的講話中，奧巴馬誓言在2016年的大部分時間在阿富汗保持9800人的美軍兵力，在他8年總統任期結束之前纔將兵力減至上述新水平。
The move marks a big shift in policy for a president who campaigned for the White House on a platform of ending US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Last year, he announced that he would withdraw US forces from Afghanistan in 2016, saying it was time to “time to turn the page” on a decade of wars.
對於曾把從阿富汗和伊拉克撤出美軍當作競選平臺的這位總統，此舉標誌着一個重大的政策轉變。去年他宣佈2016年從阿富汗撤出美軍部隊，稱持續10年的戰爭“是時候翻開新的一頁了”。
In addition to handing the Afghan war on to the next president, Mr Obama was forced to return troops to Iraq to tackle Isis extremists after he had removed US forces from the country. The president is also highly unlikely to achieve another of his top foreign policy goals — shutting Guantánamo Bay.
除了把阿富汗戰爭交給下一任總統，奧巴馬還不得不在從伊拉克撤出美軍後，又派遣美軍重返那個國家打擊“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯蘭國”(ISIS)極端分子。這位總統還極不可能實現他的另一個首要外交政策目標——關閉古巴關塔那摩灣美軍基地的監獄。
Mr Obama said he changed strategy because the Afghan security forces were still not strong enough to fend off the Taliban. He said US forces would remain to train Afghan forces and support counter-terrorist operations. The move also comes as the US worries about Isis operating inside Afghanistan.
奧巴馬錶示，他改變戰略是因爲阿富汗安全部隊仍尚未強大到足以抵擋塔利班。他說，留在該國的美軍將繼續訓練阿富汗部隊，並支持反恐作戰行動。此舉出爐之際，也正值美國擔心在阿富汗境內活動的ISIS。
“I know that many of you have grown weary of this conflict. As you are well aware, I do not support the idea of endless war,” he said. “Yet, given what’s at stake in Afghanistan...I am firmly convinced that we should make this extra effort.”
“我知道你們很多人厭倦了這場衝突。正如你們非常瞭解的，我不支持無休止戰爭的想法，”他說。“然而，考慮到阿富汗局勢關係到什麼……我堅信，我們應該付出這一額外努力。”
While Mr Obama has won two major foreign policy victories in recent months — the Iran nuclear deal and a new era in relations with Cuba after decades of hostility — he has been haunted by Afghanistan and faces a dogged threat from Isis in Iraq and Syria. He is also confronted by Russia’s intervention in Syria and an increasingly assertive China in the South China Sea.
雖然奧巴馬在最近幾個月贏得兩個重大的外交政策勝利（伊朗核協議和美國對古巴關係進入新時代，結束幾十年的敵對狀態），但他一直受到阿富汗戰局的困擾，並且面對盤踞在伊拉克和敘利亞的ISIS所構成的頑固威脅。他還面對俄羅斯對敘利亞的干預，以及中國在南中國海日益強硬的行爲。
General John Campbell, the top US commander in Afghanistan, recently told Congress that the US should reconsider plans to withdraw troops in 2016 given the strength of the Taliban. That message was amplified after Taliban forces recently temporarily seized the northern city of Kunduz, in an embarrassing setback for the government.
駐阿美軍司令、陸軍上將約翰丠貝爾(John Campbell)最近對美國國會表示，考慮到塔利班的實力，美國應該重新考慮2016年撤軍的計劃。加大此言震撼力的是，塔利班武裝最近一度攻佔阿富汗北方城市昆都士(Kunduz)，使政府遭受難堪的挫折。
