阿富汗本周選舉面臨安全威脅

Afghanistan's top security officials warned they were unable to guarantee the security of this week's elections, despite efforts to buy off Taliban insurgents.

阿富汗最高安全官員警告，盡管努力籠絡(luò)塔利班叛亂分子，但他們無法在本周選舉期間保障治安。

Abdul Rahim Wardak, the defence minister, said yesterday that the security forces faced a formidable challenge in protecting Thursday's presidential and provincial elections, but the nation was resolved to go to the polls regardless of the threat from Islamist militants.

國防部長阿卜杜勒•拉希姆•瓦爾達(dá)克(Abdul Rahim Wardak)昨日表示，在保護(hù)周四的總統(tǒng)及省長選舉方面，安全部隊(duì)面臨著艱巨的挑戰(zhàn)，但阿富汗人民決心不顧伊斯蘭武裝分子的威脅，照樣去投票站投票。

“To be 100 per cent sure that you can defend against the type of enemy you are dealing with, which has no respect for human dignity, will be very difficult,” Mr Wardak said.

瓦爾達(dá)克表示：“要防備那種毫不尊重人類尊嚴(yán)的敵人，很難有百分百的把握。”

“There is no doubt that the security forces of the International Security Assistance Forces and those of Afghanistan are not enough to secure this much area.”

“毫無疑問，國際安全援助部隊(duì)(ISAF)和阿富汗安全部隊(duì)不足以在這樣廣大的國土上維持治安。”

The election is proving a much tighter race than had been expected with Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, staging a real challenge to President Hamid Karzai, who has been leading in the polls.

此次競選比許多人預(yù)期的更為激烈，前外交部長阿卜杜拉•阿卜杜拉(Abdullah Abdullah)對(duì)總統(tǒng)哈米德•卡爾扎伊(Hamid Karzai)發(fā)起了真正的挑戰(zhàn)，后者在民調(diào)中領(lǐng)先。

Mr Wardak's comments came after a suicide bomb attack outside the Nato headquarters in Kabul on Saturday intended to undermine confidence in the safety of about 6,500 polling stations across the country.

瓦爾達(dá)克發(fā)表上述言論前，北約駐喀布爾總部門外上周六發(fā)生一起自殺式炸彈襲擊，意在破壞人們對(duì)全國約6500個(gè)投票站安全的信心。

The attack struck Kabul's diplomatic enclave in the heart of the city. It was aimed at one of the most high-profile international targets – the headquarters of ISAF – as people reported for work. The blast, the first suicide bomb attack in the capital for eight months, killed eight people and injured close to 100.

襲擊發(fā)生在喀布爾市中心的外交使領(lǐng)館區(qū)，目標(biāo)對(duì)準(zhǔn)ISAF總部這個(gè)最顯赫的海外目標(biāo)之一。當(dāng)時(shí)人們正要上班。這是阿富汗首都8個(gè)月來發(fā)生的首起自殺式炸彈襲擊，導(dǎo)致8人死亡，近100人受傷。

The attack shattered an eerie peace in Kabul, that had held in the run-up to the election. The calm had led many to believe that Taliban insurgents had decided to spare the election a wave of a violence.

襲擊打破了喀布爾在選舉前夕怪異的平靜。由于這種平靜，許多人曾以為，塔利班叛亂分子已決定不在選舉期間制造一波暴力事件。

譯者/岱嵩