On July 13, Secretary Blinken received a “dissent-channel cable” from the embassy in Kabul, written by diplomats who disagreed with official policy.[qh]
7月13日,布林肯国务卿收到驻喀布尔大使馆发来的一封由不同意官方政策的外交官写的“异见通道电报”
The cable warned that the Taliban were making rapid advances, and that the collapse of the Ghani government could happen within weeks.[qh]
该电报警告称,塔利班正在迅速推进,加尼政府可能在几周内垮台
It urged the Biden administration to begin emergency evacuations of Afghan allies.[qh]
这敦促拜登政府开始对阿富汗盟友进行紧急撤离
Around the same time, the Atrocity Early Warning Task Force, an executive-branch committee, began drafting an assessment of how to prevent massacres in Afghanistan after a Taliban takeover.[qh]
大约在同一时间,一个执行分支委员会--暴行预警特遣部队,开始起草一份评估报告,内容是如何防止塔利班接管后在阿富汗进行大屠杀
Throughout the summer, the National Security Council held weekly virtual briefings for friendly groups like Common Defense, to enlist their help in amplifying the administration’s message and defusing criticism.[qh]
整个夏天,国家安全委员会每周都在网上为“共同防御”等友好组织举行简报会,争取他们的帮助,扩大政府的信息,平息批评声音
Alex McCoy attended the briefings, but by July he had become so skeptical of what he was hearing that he began to secretly record the sessions.[qh]
亚历克斯·麦考伊参加了这些简报会,但到了7月,他对自己所听到的内容变得非常怀疑,于是开始秘密记录这些会议
The briefing official was Carlyn Reichel, the White House speechwriter and NSC engagement director who had phoned him with the good news in advance of Biden’s speech in April.[qh]
简报的官员是白宫演讲稿撰稿人兼国家安全委员会事务主管卡琳·赖切尔,在拜登4月份发表演讲之前,他曾打电话给他,告诉了他这个好消息
Week after week, in answer to increasingly pointed questions about SIVs and evacuations, Reichel kept offering the same vaguely positive phrases,[qh]
一周又一周,在回答有关特殊移民签证(SIV)和撤离人员的日益尖锐的问题时,赖切尔一直在用同样含糊不清的积极措辞,[qh]
which had the effect of deflating any hope of action: “We are exploring all options and planning for every contingency”;[qh]
这使采取行动的希望破灭:“我们正在探索所有的选项,并为每一种应急情况制定计划”;[qh]
“I can assure you that we are working on it and that it has very senior levels of attention in this building.”[qh]
“我可以向你保证,我们正在为此努力,这在这所建筑里受到了高层的关注
On July 14, Reichel informed McCoy and others that the president was about to announce a new initiative, called Operation Allies Refuge.[qh]
7月14日,赖切尔通知麦考伊等人,总统将宣布一项新的行动,名为“盟友庇护行动”
The U.S. government would soon begin bringing SIV holders on flights to America.[qh]
美国政府很快就会开始让特殊移民签证持有者坐飞机前往美国
Reichel called them “relocation flights for interested and eligible Afghans.”[qh]
赖切尔称他们为“为有兴趣和符合条件的阿富汗人提供的转移飞行航班”
The phrasing was curious; it avoided the word evacuation, and it suggested that some visa holders didn’t want to leave Afghanistan.[qh]
措词很奇怪; 避免使用“撤离”一词,并暗示一些签证持有者不想离开阿富汗
On July 8, Biden had claimed that “fewer than half” of SIV holders had chosen to leave.[qh]
7月8日,拜登曾声称,“不到一半”的特殊移民签证持有者选择离开
This became a persistent talking point, and a false one:[qh]
这成了一个持续的话题,也是一个错误的话题:[qh]
Almost all of the remaining Afghans with visas were in official limbo, waiting for the United Nations to put them on flights to the U.S., or for family members to receive passports and visas.[qh]
几乎所有持有签证的阿富汗人都处于官方的不确定状态,等待着联合国安排他们登上飞往美国的航班,或者等待着家人获得护照和签证
The president, echoed by his officials, was trying to blame the Afghans for their own entrapment.[qh]
总统试图将自己设的的圈套归咎于阿富汗人,其官员也随声附和
Still, with a presidential speech, a named operation, and planned flights, the administration finally appeared to be taking action.[qh]
尽管如此,总统发表讲话、开展指定行动、计划航班,政府似乎终于开始采取行动了