Italy readies 1,000 extra troops for Afghanistan

ROME, Dec 3, 2009 (AFP) - Italy's government on Thursday said it was ready to send 1,000 extra soldiers to Afghanistan next year following US President Barack Obama's announcement of a troop surge.

"We are now in a position to increase the number of Italian soldiers by 1,000 beginning at the start of 2010," said Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa, adding the deployments would be spread out through the year.


The additional Italian troops would result in a "corresponding reduction" in other international missions in which the country participates, including in the Balkans and Lebanon, said Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

"Obama has spoken of the beginning of a withdrawal from 2011. We hope that will be possible," Frattini said.

Italy, one of 43 countries which make up the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, currently has around 2,800 troops deployed in the war against Taliban insurgents and their Al-Qaeda allies.

La Russa said the extra troops would be part of a wider effort to bring stability to Afghanistan more than eight years into the war.

He named "major resources for reconstruction, more obligations for the Karzai government in the battle against drugs, more training for Afghan forces".

The reinforcements would make Italy's one of the largest contingents in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Britain currently has the largest number of troops of any European country with around 9,500, Germany has around 4,500 while France has 3,300.

La Russa said earlier in an interview with the Corriere della Sera daily newspaper that the bulk of the reinforcements were likely to arrive in the second half of 2010.

That would occur after the return of around 1,000 Italian troops serving in Kosovo and a further 200 from Lebanon, he said.

The move by Italy's government follows Obama's announcement on Tuesday that he would send another 30,000 US troops to the war.

La Russa had said the Italians had always argued that the task of rebuilding Afghanistan could not be undertaken without a secure environment.

He also told the newspaper that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was returned as president for a second term last month after an election riddled with fraud, had to step up efforts to combat graft and opium production.

"There must now be a serious war against corruption and the production of opium", which is the raw ingredient for heroin, said the minister.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday that the credibility of NATO was at stake in Afghanistan.

"Italy is aware that the conflict in Afghanistan is not only about the future of the Afghan population but the credibility of NATO, the war against terrorism and our own security," said the rightwing premier.


by Olivier Knox
(c) 2009 AFP