劳拉.布什突访阿富汗

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U.S. First Lady Laura Bush has made a surprise trip to Afghanistan to raise awareness of the country's need for development aid before an international donors conference this week in Paris.

美国第一夫人劳拉.布什突然访问阿富汗，以在本周的巴黎国际捐助大会召开前让人们更加关注阿富汗对发展援助的需要。

Mrs. Bush's day-long visit was her third to Afghanistan, where she has long championed women's rights and education initiatives. Speaking to reporters while flying to Kabul, the first lady said she hoped her visit would bring awareness to the country's continuing need for international assistance.

布什夫人对阿富汗进行了为期一天的访问。这是她第三次访问阿富汗。长期以来，布什夫人一直积极支持阿富汗妇女的权益和教育项目。她在飞往喀布尔的途中对记者们说，她希望此行可以让人们更加了解阿富汗对国际援助的不断需求。

"I hope that what we will be able to see today will encourage all of us so that when I go to the donors conference later this week in Paris I can make the case that we need to stay - the whole international community needs to stay with Afghanistan," she said.

她说：“我希望我们今天将要看到的一切能鼓励我们所有的人，这样当我这个星期晚些时候去巴黎参加捐助大会的时候，我可以用事实证明，我们需要，整个国际社会需要支持阿富汗。”

From Kabul, Mrs. Bush flew to Bamiyan province to see where two enormous sandstone Buddhas, carved out of a sheer cliff, stood for centuries until they were blown up by the Taliban in 2001. She also met with a group of female police cadets and Bamiyan's governor, Habiba Sorabi, Afghanistan's first female governor.

离开喀布尔后，布什夫人乘飞机前往巴米扬省，参观那里的两座巨大的沙岩佛像。这两尊佛像依山体峭壁雕刻而成，矗立在那长达几个世纪，但在2001年被塔利班炸毁。布什夫人还会晤了一些女警察学员以及巴米扬省省长索拉比。索拉比是阿富汗的第一位女省长。

Mrs. Bush later announced two American aid initiatives for Afghanistan, a $40 million grant over five years for the American University in Kabul and a five-year $40 million package for a national literacy center that mainly teaches adults.

稍后，布什夫人宣布美国对阿富汗的两项援助计划。一个是在五年之内为美利坚大学喀布尔分校提供4千万美元的拨款；另一个是五年内向一个全国扫盲中心提供4千万美元的拨款，这个中心主要为成年人提供教育。

Afghanistan's leaders have high hopes for Thursday's international donor conference in Paris, where officials have said they hope to raise about $50 billion in reconstruction funds.

阿富汗领导人对星期四在巴黎举行的国际认捐大会寄予很高期望。巴黎的有关官员说，他们希望能募集到大约500亿美元的重建资金。

But there are widespread concerns among donors about the Afghan government's ability to responsibly manage those donations.

但是，捐助者对阿富汗政府是否能负责任地管理这些捐款，普遍心存疑虑。

During a news conference with Mrs. Bush, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was asked to address donor concerns about official corruption and financial mismanagement.

在阿富汗总统卡尔扎伊同布什夫人一起出席一个新闻发布会的时候，有记者请他谈谈如何解决捐赠者对官员腐败和资金管理不当的担忧。

"The issue of corruption in the Afghan administration, the issue of corruption with regards to the delivery of aid and all of that is something that we constantly discuss with each other, Paris will be one of the true evaluations in a very friendly manner and of contributions on both sides," said Karzai.

卡尔扎伊说：“我们一直在不断地讨论阿富汗政府的腐败问题，特别是在使用援助款等方面的腐败问题。巴黎会议将以非常友好的方式对这一问题进行认真评估，双方将在这个问题上各抒己见。”

Afghan officials say the bulk of the new donations should be spent on improving infrastructure and security.

阿富汗有关官员说，大部分新收到的捐款应当被用于改善基础设施和安全状况。

Foreign aid groups in Afghanistan say international donors have pledged about $24 billion to the country since 2002, but only about $15 billion has been delivered. The aid groups say those foreign funds account for 90 percent of all public spending.

在阿富汗的外国援助机构说，自从2002年以来，国际捐赠者已向阿富汗认捐大约240亿美元，但迄今为止仅有约150亿美元到位。这些援助机构说，外国援助款占阿富汗所有公共支出的90%。