塔利班拟在卡塔尔设办事处 美巴反应谨慎

The New Year in war-ravaged Afghanistan has dawned with hopes the country can finally move towards a peace process bringing the bloody conflict there to an end.

新年伊始，饱受战争蹂躏的阿富汗带来希望的曙光，这个国家可能结束流血冲突，向和平进程迈进。

For the first time since the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country 10 years ago, the Taliban this week disclosed they are engaged in talks with U.S. officials and have reached a preliminary deal to set up a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar. In addition, the insurgent group says it has also asked for the release of its prisoners being held at the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

自从美国领导的盟军10年前攻打阿富汗以来，塔利班于这个星期首次透露他们在与美国官员会谈，并已达成一项有关在海湾国家卡塔尔设立政治办事处的初步协议。此外，这个反叛组织说，它还要求美国释放被关押在古巴关塔那摩湾拘留中心的塔利班成员。

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has announced that his country agrees with the plan to open a Taliban office in Qatar, and with Washington’s efforts to talk with the insurgent group, as a way to prevent further conflict and the deaths of Afghan civilians.

阿富汗总统卡尔扎伊已宣布本国同意在卡塔尔设立塔利班办事处的计划，并同意华盛顿与塔利班进行和谈的努力，这是防止发生进一步冲突和阿富汗平民伤亡的一种方式。

Neighboring Pakistan has reacted cautiously, declining to say whether it is involved in the peace process. However, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar reiterated her country's support for any Afghan-led effort aimed at political reconciliation in the war-torn country.

邻国巴基斯坦对这一事件作出谨慎反应，该国拒绝说明它是否参与了阿富汗的和平进程。不过，巴基斯坦外交部长希娜•拉巴尼•哈尔在对美国之音讲话时重申，巴基斯坦将支持阿富汗领导的为在这个饱受战争蹂躏的国家达成政治和解的努力。

"The stability of the region is one of Pakistan’s core national interests because Pakistan has suffered for too long because of lack of stability in the region," she said. "So any move, any effort towards reconciliation, towards national stability in Afghanistan, has a direct positive effect on Pakistan, so Pakistan would obviously be supportive of that."

哈尔说：“这个地区的稳定是巴基斯坦的核心国家利益之一，因为巴基斯坦已经因该地区缺乏稳定而遭受了太长时间的苦难。所以，任何走向和解、走向国家稳定的行动和努力都会给巴基斯坦带来直接的积极影响，因此巴基斯坦显然会支持这些行动。”

According to Kabul-based analyst Omar Sharifi, it would be premature to tie too many hopes to the Taliban’s announcement that it has agreed to open a political office, but that there are reasons behind President Karzai's public support for the move.

阿富汗喀布尔的独立分析人士奥马尔•沙利菲说，现在就对塔利班同意设立政治办事处一事寄予太多希望还为时过早。不过他说，卡尔扎伊总统公开支持这一举动是有原因的。

"They welcomed the opening of the Taliban office in Qatar, but the logic behind this, of course, is [that] they would love to see a kind of contact address for the Taliban," he said. "More importantly, they would very much like to see the exclusive Pakistani monopoly over the Taliban [be] somehow eased or loosened."

沙利菲说：“他们欢迎塔利班在卡塔尔开设办事处，但这背后的逻辑显然是，他们乐见塔利班有一个联系地址，更重要的是，他们非常想看到巴基斯坦对塔利班的独家控制能有所放松或松动。”

Pakistan’s military is also accused of maintaining close ties with the anti-U.S. Haqqani network of Afghan insurgents, based in the Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan. But Pakistani observers like Rustam Shah Mohmand, former ambassador to Afghanistan, insist that any Afghan peace arrangement not involving Islamabad would be difficult to implement.

巴基斯坦军方也被指责与反美的阿富汗反叛组织哈卡尼网络保持密切关系。哈卡尼网络的总部位于毗邻阿富汗的巴基斯坦瓦济里斯坦部落地区。但是巴基斯坦观察人士，比如前巴基斯坦驻阿富汗大使拉斯塔姆•谢赫•穆罕默德坚称，没有伊斯兰堡参与的阿富汗和平协议将会很难实行。

"Because there are still many Afghan refugees in Pakistan and ... many Taliban leaders come and go, so Pakistan’s position would be very pivotal," he said. "I am sure that at some point in time the Pakistanis will have to be brought on board."

穆罕默德说：“因为在巴基斯坦仍有许多阿富汗难民，许多塔利班领导人进进出出，所以巴基斯坦的地位将非常重要，我确信，在某个时候，巴基斯坦将不得不参与这一进程。”American officials have refused to comment directly on their reported contacts with the Taliban, but have suggested it could help move toward a negotiated settlement of the conflict. U.S. Ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter, however, dismissed suggestions Pakistan is being kept out of the process.

美国官员对于有关他们与塔利班接触的报导拒绝直接评论，但是他们表明，这可能有助于达成解决冲突的谈判协议。不过，美国驻巴基斯坦大使卡梅伦•芒特驳斥了巴基斯坦被排除在这一和平进程之外的说法。

“We are both committed, both Pakistan and the United States, to a peaceful, successful, prosperous Afghanistan," he said. "We are committed to working together to try to achieve those goals ... not only about our cooperation together, but our cooperation with regional partners to make sure that a settlement that is reached in Afghanistan is something that is satisfactory for everyone in the region."

芒特说：“巴基斯坦和美国都致力于建设一个和平、成功和繁荣的阿富汗。我们致力于合作达成这些目标......不仅仅是我们之间的合作，还有我们与地区伙伴的合作，以确保在阿富汗达成的协议让这一地区的所有各方都满意。”

Separately, representatives of the Afghan insurgent group led by fugitive warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also traveled to Kabul this week to meet with President Karzai, General John Allen, the U.S. commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, and Ryan Crocker, Washington’s envoy to Kabul.

另外，由逃亡的古勒卜丁•希克马蒂亚尔领导的这个阿富汗反叛组织的代表本周也到喀布尔与卡尔扎伊总统、北约驻阿富汗部队指挥官约翰•艾伦和美国驻阿富汗大使莱恩•克罗克会面。

Hekmatyar's Pakistan-based son-in-law, Ghairat Baheer, led the three-member delegation to the Afghan capital. Speaking to VOA at his residence in Islamabad, Baheer described talks with the Americans as "very frank, detailed, direct and useful."

希克马蒂亚尔的女婿、住在巴基斯坦的贾伊拉特•巴赫尔率领这个由三人组成的代表团到阿富汗首都喀布尔会谈。他在伊斯兰堡的住所对美国之音说，他与美国官员的会谈“非常坦诚、细致、直接和有用。”

"I think the Americans seem to be more pragmatic and realistic then they were before," he said. "We believe if the Americans are serious in their withdrawal from Afghanistan [by end of 2014], if this is a formal and final stance, then the rest of the issues could be subjected to negations."

巴赫尔说：“我认为这些美国官员看起来比以前更务实、更实际。我们认为，如果美国认真执行撤离驻阿富汗美军的计划，如果这是一个正式的、最终的计划，那么余下问题可以谈判解决。”

The United States plans to withdraw all its combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. But most observers believe that without sustained international backing, deep divisions among various Afghan factions including the Taliban could return the country to a civil war-like situation, much like the one Afghanistan experienced after the withdrawal of Soviet forces in the 1990s.

美国计划在2014年年底之前撤离全部驻阿战斗部队。但大多数观察人士认为，如果没有国际社会的持续支持，包括塔利班在内的阿富汗各派之间的深度分歧可能使这个国家再次出现像1990年代苏联军队撤离后阿富汗经历的内战一样的局面。