VOA标准英语2013--争夺政治权力在阿富汗展开

（单词翻译）

Battle for Political Power Underway in Afghanistan 争夺政治权力在阿富汗展开

KABUL — Elections for a new president to replace Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan are six months away and the battle for power in the country is heating up. Regional analysts² say that powerful political alliances are beginning to form, and the result of the vote will determine whether Afghanistan moves forward or stays mired³ in long-term conflict.

After decades of war and corruption⁴, Afghanistan is a poor country. The hope is that the April 2014 presidential election will change all that, says Noor Agha.

“We are all tired of war. The next president should work toward peace and improve our lives,” Agha said.

Hamidullah Farooqi, a former transportation minister now part of a political coalition⁵ of technocrats⁶, warns of the dangers of a failed election.

“It will be a disaster,…a huge problem on Afghanistan because all eyes are looking to that election,” he said.

Voter registration⁷ is underway. Workers say the turnout has been high. But it’s still not clear who the candidates are.

The Afghan presidency⁸ holds immense power.

Political analyst¹ Kate Clark says as a result, leaders are cutting political deals to win votes.

“You have to do deals. And none of it, pretty well none of it, is ideological⁹. None of it’s party-based, none of it’s ideological," she said. "It’s pretty well all about interests, and pretty much trying to judge who’s on the winning ticket.”

It is a contest between the ethnic¹⁰ politics of the past, a continuation of the status quo, or a government of consensus¹¹, says former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

Then there is the Taliban, and what it decides to do.

“So they have three options: one, intensify¹² the violence, and further polarize a society; two, allow the election to take place so that the issue of peace and enduring peace can really be debated, and we arrive at a consensus; and three, more remotely, participate in the elections,” he said.

But voter Nasir Ahmad Ramyar, with the group Afghans for Progressive Thinking, says this time, the real power is the ballot¹³.

“People know their rights, people know that voting will change their life, people know voting is something they have to do,” Ramyar said.