譯/莊蕙嘉
對神學士而言 打仗比養護隘口容易
The Taliban commander's sneakers had soaked through from the melting snow, but that was the least of his problems. It was avalanche season in the Salang Pass, a rugged cut of switchback roads that gash through the Hindu Kush mountains in northern Afghanistan like some man-made insult to nature, and he was determined to keep the essential trade route open during his first season as its caretaker.
神學士指揮官的運動鞋已被融雪浸濕，但這是他最小的問題。那時正是薩朗隘口的雪崩季節，此處的之字形道路崎嶇不平，在阿富汗北部劃過興都庫什山，猶如對自然的人為䙝瀆。在擔任此地管理人的第一季期間，他決意要保持這條重要貿易通道暢通。
The worry about traffic flow was both new and strange to the commander, Salahuddin Ayoubi, and his band of former insurgents. Over the last 20 years, the Taliban had mastered destroying Afghanistan's roads and killing the people on them. Culverts, ditches, bridges, canal paths, dirt trails and highways: None were safe from the Taliban's array of homemade explosives.
對指揮官阿尤比和他帶領的前民兵團隊而言，關於交通的憂慮既嶄新且陌生。過去20年來，神學士擅於摧毀阿富汗的道路及殺害路上民眾。涵洞、水溝、橋梁、運河水道、產業道路和公路，沒有一樣能安全逃過神學士一連串自製炸藥。
But that all ended half a year ago. After overthrowing the Western-backed government in August, the Taliban are now trying to save what's left of the economic arteries they had spent so long tearing apart.
但這一切在半年前結束。去年8月推翻西方支持的政府後，神學士現在正試圖挽救剩下的經濟要道，這些他們以往耗費很長時間破壞的地方。
Nowhere is that more important than in the Salang Pass, where, at over 2 miles high, thousands of trucks lumber through the jagged mountains every day. It is the only viable land route to Kabul, the capital, from Afghanistan's north and bordering countries like Uzbekistan. Everything bumps up its slopes and down its draws: fuel, flour, coal, consumer goods, livestock, people.
沒有其他地點比超過2英里（3200公尺）高的薩朗隘口更重要，每天都有數以千計卡車緩慢穿越這個起伏山區。這是從阿富汗北部通往首都喀布爾及烏茲別克等鄰國唯一能走的陸路，在這條路上坡下坡的什麼都有：燃料、麵粉、煤炭、消費產品、牲口和人類。
After decades of war, overuse and ad hoc repairs, the highway is in poor shape and prone to calamity. Navigating it demands a certain daring.
在數十年的戰爭、過度使用與臨時修補後，這條公路狀況不佳，可能發生災害，走這條路需要一定的膽量。
So does the upkeep.
維護這條路也是。
"The fighting was easier than dealing with this," Ayoubi, 31, said last month, before hopping in his mud-spattered white pickup truck and making his way down the road, stopping occasionally to manage clogged columns of trucks.
「戰鬥比處理這種事容易」，31歲的阿尤比上個月說，在他跳進濺了泥巴的白色貨卡，在路上開出通道，偶爾停下來排除塞住的卡車車陣之前。
Accidents and breakdowns are common occurrences on the potholed and perilous journey across the pass. But the greatest fear is getting stuck in a traffic jam in one of the highway's long, pitch-black tunnels, where the buildup of carbon monoxide can suffocate those trapped within.
在穿越隘口的凹凸不平且危險的旅程中，事故和拋錨司空見慣。然而最大的恐懼是，塞在這條公路漫長且漆黑的多個隧道之一，當中累積的一氧化碳可能讓卡在隧道中的人窒息。
The centerpiece of the highway is the Salang Tunnel. Constructed by the Soviets in the 1960s, it was once the highest tunnel in the world.
這條路最重要的是薩朗隧道，1960年代由蘇聯建造，曾是世界海拔最高的隧道。
Everything seems to be different in the Salang Pass this year, except for the pass itself.
今年薩朗隘口的一切似乎都不一樣了，除隘口本身。
