美國首次發佈“節本”阿富汗重建報告

The US has for the first time banned its inspector in Afghanistan from publishing data on how much of the country is controlled by the Taliban and other Islamist rebels, as concerns rise about mounting violence just as President Donald Trump recommits to the war.

美國首次禁止其在阿富汗的監察人員發佈由塔利班(Taliban)和其他伊斯蘭主義反叛分子控制的阿富汗土地的佔比數據。在美國總統唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)下令美軍重新投入阿富汗戰事後，阿富汗愈演愈烈的暴力活動引發了更大的擔憂。

This month has been one of the deadliest in Afghanistan’s recent history. In the past few weeks, there have been three fatal attacks in Kabul and one on a Save the Children compound in Jalalabad, close to the Pakistan border. The combined death toll stands at close to 150.

本月是阿富汗近年來暴力襲擊致死人數最多的月份之一。過去幾周，在喀布爾發生了三起造成人員死亡的襲擊，在臨近阿富汗-巴基斯坦邊境的賈拉拉巴德(Jalalabad)的一處“救助兒童會”(Save the Children)工作場所，也發生了一起造成人員死亡的襲擊。死亡人數合計達到150人左右。

But at the request of the US defence department, this quarter’s US update on the country’s reconstruction, released on Tuesday, omitted some of its most significant data, including how much of the country the Afghan government controls.

但在美國國防部的要求下，週二美國發布的阿富汗重建情況最新季度報告刪剪掉了一些最關鍵的數據，包括處於阿富汗政府控制下的土地的佔比。

John Sopko, the US’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (Sigar) and the author of the report, says he is unsure why the information has been redacted. “The Taliban know how much they control, the Afghan government does and the US military does,” he says. “The only ones who don’t are the American people who are paying for it.”

該報告的作者、美國阿富汗重建特別監察長約翰?索普科(John Sopko)表示，他不確定爲何這些信息遭到刪剪。“塔利班知道他們控制了多少土地，阿富汗政府和美國軍方也知道，”他說，“唯一不知道是爲此買單的美國人民。”

In August, Mr Sopko reported the Afghan government was in control of 57 per cent of the country — down from 72 per cent in November 2015. Tuesday’s report also omits data on the overall strength of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces.

去年8月索普科曾報告稱，阿富汗政府控制了該國57%的土地，而2015年11月的數字是72%。週二的報告還刪掉了關於阿富汗國防和安全部隊整體實力的數據。

Outsiders say the defence department request suggests that, as the US recommits to the war under Mr Trump’s new strategy, officials are particularly sensitive about how the security situation has deteriorated.

外界人士表示，美國國防部的要求表明，美國依照特朗普的對阿新戰略重新投入阿富汗戰事後，官員們對阿富汗安全形勢的惡化程度尤爲敏感。

According to one US official: “We don’t know what the data say, but we do know one thing — good news is rarely classified.”

一名美國官員表示：“我們不知道那些數據說了什麼，但我們知道一件事——好消息很少需要保密。”