Afghan Provincial Official Assassinated
阿富汗地方官员遭暗杀

　
There is continuing violence in southern Afghanistan, where a resurgent Taliban is continuing to carry out strikes against civilians.

阿富汗南部的暴力活动在持续进行。暴乱集团塔利班继续在当地袭击平民。

A Kandahar provincial official and his bodyguard on their way to work were shot dead by two gunmen on a motorbike. Dost Mohammad Arghestani headed the labor and social affairs department.

坎大哈省官员阿吉斯塔尼和他的保镖在上班的路上被两名骑摩托车的武装分子开枪打死。阿吉斯塔尼当时正前往劳动和社会事务部。

The killing is similar to the September 28 assassination of Kandahar's most senior policewoman. The Taliban claimed responsibility for shooting her.

这起谋杀事件和9月28号坎大哈最资深的女警察被暗杀的事件很相似。塔利班声称对枪杀这名女警察承担责任。

Along with Taliban rebels, organized criminal gangs, including the drug mafia, are also blamed for killings there.

除了塔利班叛乱分子外，包括毒品集团在内的有组织的犯罪团伙，也在那里从事杀人行径。

The assassinations are a challenge to President Hamid Karzai, up for re-election next year, to convince Afghans that they are better off than they were before the Taliban were driven from power.

这些暗杀事件在明年选举前对卡尔扎伊总统说来是个挑战，他难以说服阿富汗人他们的生活比塔利班时期改善了。

The major complaint of the Afghan public is despite democracy, a massive international military presence, and billions of dollars of foreign aid, security is deteriorating and official corruption is rampant.

阿富汗民众主要的抱怨是，安全局势恶化和官员腐败猖獗，尽管有民主、有大规模国际军事力量驻守境内，以及数十亿美元的外国援助。

Responding to the assassination in Kandahar, presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada says the Afghan government is doing all it can to protect its public servants.

总统发言人哈米德扎达在对坎大哈的暗杀事件作出回应时说，阿富汗政府正在尽全力保护公职人员。

"Unfortunately we have enemies who are sworn or determined to destroy the way of life," he said. "They are determined to destroy what we have achieved in the past six years. And by attacking civilians cowardly they are showing one more time that they are purely terrorists and that they have no mission."

他说：“不幸的是，我们的敌人誓言或者下定决心要摧毁我们的生活方式。他们决心要破坏我们过去6年取得的成绩。而且他们采用的袭击平民的懦夫方式，再次显示他们纯粹是恐怖分子，而且他们没有所追求的使命。”

Police in the southern province of Uruzgan say nine people, including two children, riding in a small bus died when their vehicle hit an explosive device. Police blame the Taliban and say the bomb was likely planted to attack NATO troops who frequently use the road.

警察说，在南部省份乌鲁兹甘，9名小客车乘客在他们的车辆撞上一个爆炸装置时丧身，其中包括2名儿童。警察认为是塔利班所为，他们说，炸弹可能原来是用来袭击经常使用这条道路的北约军队的。

NATO said in a statement that three of its soldiers were killed Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan when a roadside bomb went off near their vehicle. Kandahar province has been wracked by increasing violence.

北约在声明中说，星期二在阿富汗东部，当一枚路边炸弹在北约军队的车辆附近爆炸时，3名北约士兵被炸死。坎大哈省一直受日益增多的暴力活动的困扰。

Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak says the rise in attacks by insurgents has made 2008 the bloodiest year since the ouster of the Taliban seven years ago.

阿富汗国防部长瓦尔达克说，暴乱分子更为频繁地进行袭击，使得2008年成为塔利班下台七年来死亡人数最多的一年。

General Wardak partly blames foreign insurgents driven out of Iraq and other countries by coalition forces. But he is expressing confidence that the enemy - whom he acknowledges are becoming better trained and equipped - cannot sustain their operations against a growing Afghan National Army and the massive foreign military presence.

瓦尔达克认为，部分根源在于被联军从伊拉克等地赶出来的外国暴乱分子。他承认敌人的训练和装备都在改进，但是他相信，有日益成长的阿富汗国家军队和大规模外国军事力量的驻守，敌人维持不了针对阿富汗的袭击行动。