美即将收紧六国签证发放
美国即将实施新规定，要求六个穆斯林为主要人口的国家的签证申请人必须跟美国的家人或企业有紧密联系，才有资格入境美国。
美联社和路透社星期三晚上都看到了国务院的电文，但是没有公开发表。电文中解释了驻外使领馆签证官在审查伊朗、利比亚、索马里、苏丹、叙利亚和也门人的签证时需要遵循的原则。
紧密的亲属关系包括人在美国的父母、配偶、孩子、成年子女、子女配偶或是兄弟姐妹。
不符合要求的亲属关系包括祖父母、孙子孙女、外孙子外孙女、父母的兄弟姐妹、兄弟姐妹的子女、堂表兄弟姐妹，兄弟姐妹的配偶、未婚夫和未婚妻，以及其他远亲。
符合要求的商业关系必须是“正式的，登记在案的”，不能是为了逃避旅行限令而专门建立的，酒店预订这类证明不符合要求。
美联社的报道说，新规定将于华盛顿时间星期四晚上8点生效。
New Rules for US Travel Ban to Require Close Family, Business Ties
The United States is set to implement new rules requiring visa applicants from six majority-Muslim nations to have a close relationship with a family member or business in the U.S. in order to be eligible to be admitted to the country.
A State Department cable seen by the Associated Press and Reuters late Wednesday, but not made public, outlined how consular officials should proceed with the visa applications for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The acceptable close family relationships include a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling who is already in the United States.
Relationships that do not meet the requirement include grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, fiancee or other extended family.
An acceptable business relationship has to be "formal, documented," and not created for the purpose of evading the travel ban. The cable said something like a hotel reservation would not meet the requirement.
The Associated Press said the new rules were due to go into effect at 8 p.m. Washington time Thursday (0000 GMT Friday).
马蒂斯就阿富汗战略与北约盟友磋商
美国国防部长马蒂斯正在布鲁塞尔，即将跟北约盟友就各国向阿富汗派兵人数和对阿富汗的其它支持进行协商。马蒂斯不久将宣布他对阿富汗的政策计划。
五角大楼曾保证，要在七月中旬以前提出有关阿富汗的新计划。布鲁金斯学会的高级国防分析师欧汉龙预计，新计划不会彻底改变现有战略，而是对奥巴马政府的阿富汗计划进行调整。
欧汉龙告诉美国之音说：“我认为，马蒂斯和川普其实只是在纠正奥巴马总统犯下的错误而已，在某种程度上，是要比奥巴马更恰当地执行奥巴马当时制定的策略。”
这一策略的重点依然将是让阿富汗部队担负主要保安职责。这是奥巴马政府2013年6月以来在阿富汗军事行动的一个关键点。但是欧汉龙解释说，他认为，奥巴马将美国派往阿富汗的部队人数从2011年5月的10万人在四年多的时间里减少到不足1万人，是一个错误的决定。
欧汉龙说：“这样做步子太快，留下的兵力也太少。只要恢复几千人的兵力，我们就能让军事顾问回到阿富汗一些重要的军事部门，希望能借此稳定住局势。”
美国国防部长马蒂斯在参加北约国防部长会议前，预计将于阿富汗国际部队指挥官约翰·尼克尔森上将会面，要求一些盟友增强对阿富汗支持的力度。
五角大楼发言人怀特上星期告诉美国之音说：“我们必须想想看，他们还能在哪些方面出力。大家都希望知道接下来会发生什么，但是国防部长马蒂斯非常慎重，要考虑到战地指挥官到底需要什么，如何做才能扭转局面。”
Mattis Consults NATO on Afghan Strategy
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is in Brussels, where he will consult with NATO allies on troop contributions and other support for Afghanistan, before announcing his own policy plan for the war-torn country.
The Pentagon has promised a new Afghanistan plan by mid-July, and Michael O’Hanlon, a senior defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, expects the new plan will not be a “repeal and replace” strategy, but rather a reformation of the Obama administration’s plan.
“Mattis and Trump are just repairing a mistake, in effect, that I think President Barack Obama made. And it is, in a sense, more properly carrying out Obama’s own strategy than Obama himself did,” O’Hanlon told VOA.
The strategy will still focus on Afghan troops taking the lead on security in the country, a critical point in the Obama administration’s military efforts since June 2013. But O’Hanlon explains why he thinks the past president made a mistake when he cut American military support in the country from about 100,000 U.S. troops in May 2011 to fewer than 10,000 American troops over a four-year span.
“That was probably too fast and too low, so by restoring just a few thousand more, I think we can get advisers out in the field with some of the key Afghan units and hopefully really stabilize the situation,” O’Hanlon said.
Mattis is expected to meet with General John Nicholson, the commander of international forces in Afghanistan, ahead of the NATO defense ministers meeting, where he will press some allies to increase their commitments to Afghanistan.
“We have to think about what else they can bring to bear to help,” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana White told VOA last week. “I know everyone wants to know what’s going to happen, but the secretary is being very deliberative and very thoughtful about what the commanders need and what’s necessary to change the tide.”
