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America may pay dearly for defeat in Afghanistan
美国可能为在阿富汗的失败付出沉重的代价
Joe Biden may have more foreign-policy experience than any American president in 30 years, but he is haunted by the brutal assessment of his judgment by Robert Gates, who was secretary of defence under the president both men served, Barack Obama. Mr Gates called Mr Biden “a man of integrity” whom it was impossible not to like. Yet, writing in “Duty”, his memoir, he added: “I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign-policy and national-security issue over the past four decades.”
乔·拜登可能比30年来任何一位美国总统拥有更多的外交政策经验，但他被罗伯特·盖茨对他的判断所作的残酷评估所困扰，盖茨也曾在奥巴马手下担任国防部长。盖茨先生称拜登先生是一个 "正直的人"，不可能不喜欢他。然而，他在其回忆录《责任》中补充道："我认为他在过去40年中几乎在每一个重大的外交政策和国家安全问题上都是错误的。"
It is too soon to know whether history will add Mr Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan to a list of calls that includes support for the war in Iraq and opposition to the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. But in the short term the abandonment of Afghanistan to Taliban rule after nearly 20 years of American commitment—the images of panicked retreat and the pleas of terrified Afghan allies, the stench of great-power humiliation that inevitably recalled the evacuation of Saigon in 1975—mocks Mr Biden’s claims that “America is back”; that conviction in democracy and compassion for the oppressed have a place beside self-interest at the centre of his foreign policy; and that at least, after four years of buffoonery, American leadership is once again competent.
现在还无法知道历史是否会将拜登从阿富汗撤军的决定加入支持伊拉克战争和反对突袭击毙本•拉登(Osama bin Laden)的号召中。在美国近20年的承诺之后，阿富汗在短期内被塔利班统治——慌乱的撤退，惊恐的阿富汗盟友恳求的画面，大国耻辱的臭味，不可避免地让人想起1975年撤离西贡的情景——嘲笑拜登声称的 "美国回来了"。在他的外交政策中心，对民主的信念和对被压迫者的同情在自我利益之外还有一席之地；至少，在经历了四年的愚弄之后，美国的领导能力又一次强大起来。
As recently as on July 8th Mr Biden dismissed any chance that American diplomats might wind up scrambling for an exit as they did in Vietnam. He said the possibility of “the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely”.
就在最近的7月8日，拜登否定了美国外交官可能会像他们在越南那样争相撤离的任何可能性。他说，"塔利班霸占一切并拥有整个国家的可能性非常小"。
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