埃莱娜·贝卡托罗斯、阿卜杜勒·卡哈尔 阿富汗喀布尔——25年前，当美国主导的阿富汗入侵战争爆发时，尼加尔·南格拉哈里医生正在喀布尔的一家医院值夜班。这一事件将深刻影响她和她国家未来数十年的命运。
ELENA BECATOROS, ABDUL QAHAR AFGHAN KABUL, Afghanistan — Dr. Nigar Nangrahari was on a night shift in a Kabul hospital when the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan began 25 years ago — an event that would shape her and her country’s future for decades to come.
第二天早晨，南格拉哈里步行回家时，看到喀布尔居民正在对塔利班成员进行报复。塔利班曾实施残酷的压迫统治，包括公开石刑、对涉嫌犯罪者截肢，以及将女性彻底排除在公共生活之外。
As she walked home the next morning, Nangrahari saw Kabul residents taking revenge on members of the Taliban, whose harsh, repressive rule had seen public stonings, limb amputations of alleged criminals and women obliterated from public life.
她说：“一路上，我看到普通民众杀死任何他们抓住的塔利班成员。我亲眼目睹喀布尔民众捕获并杀害塔利班武装分子。有些人甚至爬上了树躲藏。”
“Along the way, I saw ordinary people killing anyone they caught who was a Taliban member. I witnessed with my own eyes the people of Kabul capturing and killing Taliban fighters. Some had climbed trees to hide,” she said.
出于对未来的恐惧，南格拉哈里和家人在家待了大约一个月。最终，她被召回医院，重新担任妇产科医生。她不再需要在街上佩戴波卡头巾。
Afraid of what was to come, Nangrahari and her family stayed home for about a month. Eventually, she was called back to the hospital and returned to work as an obstetrician-gynecologist. She no longer had to wear a burqa in the street.
58岁的南格拉哈里说：“他们赋予了我们自由——但并非阿富汗人真正能从中受益的那种自由。”
“They granted us freedom — but not the kind that Afghans could truly benefit from,” said Nangrahari, 58.
阿富汗是一个高度保守的穆斯林社会，随着美国在该国的存在而传入的美国文化，常常令社会中的某些群体感到不快。
Afghanistan is a deeply conservative Muslim society, and the U.S. culture that came with the American presence in the country often rankled some segments of society.
她说：“阿富汗人既不应完全不受限制，也不应遭受塔利班施加的那种严苛约束。需要一种适度的平衡。”在美国总统乔治·W·布什任内，美国领导的联军发动了“持久自由行动”，其公开目标是瓦解基地组织。该恐怖组织的头目奥萨马·本·拉登在阿富汗的基地策划了9月11日针对美国的袭击。
“Afghans should neither be completely unrestricted nor subjected to the kind of severe constraints imposed by the Taliban,” she said. “There needs to be a moderate balance.”Under U.S. President George W. Bush, the American-led coalition launched Operation Enduring Freedom with the stated goal of dismantling al-Qaida, the terrorist organization whose leader, Osama bin Laden, had orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States from his base in Afghanistan.
这场入侵标志着一场持续20年的战争的开始，战争夺去了数万阿富汗人的生命，以及数千名联军军人、美国承包商、援助人员和记者的生命。
The invasion was to mark the start of a 20-year war that cost tens of thousands of Afghan lives , along with thousands of coalition service members, U.S. contractors, aid workers and journalists.
那场战争以及此后历届受美国支持的阿富汗政府所留下的遗产，至今仍影响深远。
The legacy of that war, and of the successive U.S.-supported Afghan governments during that time, endures today.
“他们宣称的目标是为阿富汗带来良政，并打击毒品和恐怖主义，”曾任医生、现任人道主义组织“什库拉慈善基金会”（Shkula Charitable Foundation）负责人兼政治分析师的穆因·古尔·查姆卡奈（Muin Gul Chamkanai）表示，“但现实却恰恰相反。”在付出巨大的经济和生命代价后，美国的驻军确实带来了一些自由，特别是在媒体领域以及女性的教育和就业机会方面。然而，普遍存在的腐败和往往强硬的军事手段很快引发了深重的怨恨。
“Their stated goals were to bring good governance to Afghanistan and to combat narcotics and terrorism,” said Muin Gul Chamkanai, a former doctor who now heads a humanitarian organization, the Shkula Charitable Foundation, and also works as a political analyst. “The reality turned out to be the exact opposite.”At a massive cost , both financial and in lives, the American presence brought certain freedoms, particularly for the media and in women’s education and employment opportunities. But pervasive corruption and often heavy-handed military tactics soon bred deep resentment.
2001年10月7日，查姆卡奈坐在家中打开电视。看到自己的国家遭到入侵，他感到愤怒不已。
Sitting at home on Oct. 7, 2001, Chamkanai switched on his television. The sight of his country being invaded enraged him.
“如果我被他们的炸弹击中，我会认为殉道远比活着更好。我并不害怕，”他说，“我当时想在阿富汗拿起笔和枪与他们战斗。”如今，在入侵发生25年后，在美国从该国混乱撤军5年后，塔利班已牢牢重新控制了阿富汗。尽管他们现在的统治不像1996年至2001年间那样极端，但他们已经恢复了许多严苛的限制措施，特别是在针对妇女和女童方面。
“Had I been struck by their bombs, I would have considered martyrdom far preferable. I was not afraid,” he said. “I wanted to fight against them in Afghanistan using both the pen and the gun.”Now, 25 years after the invasion and five years after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from the country, the Taliban are firmly back in control of Afghanistan. Although not quite as extreme as their previous government, when they ruled the country from 1996-2001, they have reinstated many draconian restrictions, particularly on women and girls .
毫无疑问，自塔利班于2021年8月夺取政权以来，安全状况有所改善。那些无休止的毁灭性爆炸和袭击已经消失，而这些袭击绝大多数都是塔利班自己在长达二十年的战争中所实施的。
Security has improved without question since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Gone are the endless devastating bombings and attacks, the vast majority of them carried out by the Taliban themselves during the two-decade-long war.
“经过漫长而艰苦的斗争，付出了巨大的牺牲与努力，阿富汗人民终于成功解放了自己的国家，”政府副发言人哈姆杜拉·菲特拉特在入侵事件25周年之际发表声明称，“这场斗争充分证明，阿富汗人民绝不会屈服于外国占领或外部胁迫。”
“After a long and arduous struggle, jihad and great sacrifices, Afghans succeeded in liberating their country,” deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said in a statement on the 25th anniversary of the invasion. “This struggle demonstrated that Afghans will never submit to foreign occupation or external coercion.”
他表示，2001年10月7日是“阿富汗历史上一个黑暗的日子，无数阿富汗人因此牺牲、受伤、遭监禁、流离失所甚至无家可归。”然而对于在美国扶持下成长起来的一代人而言，个人自由的丧失更是沉重的打击——尤其是女性，她们在着装选择、出行范围等方方面面都受到种种限制。
He said that Oct. 7, 2001, was “a dark day in the country’s history that resulted in thousands of Afghans being martyred, wounded, imprisoned, displaced and left homeless.”But for a generation who grew up under U.S.-supported governments, the loss of personal freedoms, especially for women, who face restrictions on everything from what they wear to where they can go, has been a brutal blow.
塔希米娜·曼加尔今年33岁，塔利班掌权后，“各种限制措施逐步实施，我们习以为常的正常生活也随之消失，日子变得极其艰难，”她说。由于针对女童和女性的高中及大学相继关闭，她继续求学的梦想也随之破灭。“压力实在太大了，沉重地压在我的精神和心理上，”她说道。
After the Taliban took over, “gradually … restrictions were imposed, and the normal life we had known was taken away. Things became very difficult for us,” said Tahmina Mangal, a 33-year-old woman who saw her hopes of continuing her studies dashed by the shuttering of high schools and universities for girls and women. “The burden is immense. It weighs heavily on my own spirits and psyche,” she said.
如今，塔希米娜经营着一家专门售卖阿富汗传统女性服饰的店铺。她介绍称，尽管女性面临诸多限制且被禁止从事大多数工作，但商业部仍会向女性颁发营业执照，这成了她唯一能选择的出路。
Now, Tahmina owns and runs a store selling traditional Afghan clothing for women. Although women face multiple restrictions and are barred from most jobs, the Ministry of Commerce does issue business licenses to women, she said. She viewed that as the only avenue open to her.
然而，由于女性被剥夺了接受教育的权利且无法参与任何形式的治理，她对未来深感忧虑。
But with women barred from education and participation in any form of governance, she worries deeply about the future.
“如果这种状况持续下去，阿富汗的未来将充满危险，”塔赫米娜说。“没有女性继续学业或接受教育，我们将缺少医生、教师和有文化的女性，包括能够为社会培养健康孩子的母亲。如果这种趋势继续下去，我认为阿富汗的前景黯淡而严峻。”对于南格拉哈里来说，尽管塔利班政府重视改善国家基础设施值得欢迎，但其对男童宗教教育的强调以及对女童高等教育的禁令，“让阿富汗倒退了一个世纪”。阿富汗已经是世界上最贫穷的国家之一。
“If this situation persists, Afghanistan’s future is perilous,” Tahmina said. “Without women pursuing their studies or receiving an education, we will lack doctors, teachers and literate women, including mothers capable of raising healthy children for society. I view Afghanistan’s future as bleak and dire if this trend continues.”For Nangrahari, although the Taliban government’s emphasis on improving infrastructure in the country is welcome, its emphasis on religious education for boys, and its ban on higher education for girls, “sets Afghanistan back by a century.”Afghanistan already is among the world’s poorest countries.
“道路得到了改善，高楼大厦拔地而起。确实，基础设施是经济的基础，我们认可这一切，”南格拉哈里说。“但一个缺乏教育的社会就是零。”尽管如此，坐在喀布尔服装店里的塔赫米娜表示，女性不应放弃希望，而应继续追求学业，即使只能在线学习。
“Roads have been improved and high-rise buildings constructed. Indeed, infrastructure is the foundation of the economy, and we acknowledge all of this,” Nangrahari said. “But a society lacking education is zero.”Still, sitting in her clothing shop in Kabul, Tahmina said that women shouldn’t give up hope, and should continue pursuing their studies, even if it is only online.
“政府不可避免地会来来去去，崩溃时有发生，没有哪个政府能永存，”她说。“我常说：‘对未来保持希望。学习，在正常学业之余接受专业培训，并寻求高等教育。’”
“Governments inevitably come and go, collapses happen, and no government lasts forever,” she said. “I always say: ‘Remain hopeful for the future. Study, pursue professional training alongside your regular schooling, and seek higher education.’”