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Italy’s Prime Minister says he wants Italian troops out of Afghanistan as soon as possible. That’s after six Italian soldiers participating in NATO operations in Afghanistan died yesterday in a suicide bomb attack. The World’s Gerry Hadden reports.
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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman. This is The World. Italians were shocked yesterday by news of a bomb attack in Afghanistan. The blast in Kabul killed several people including six Italian soldiers. The deaths sparked calls for Italy to withdraw its troops for Afghanistan. That’s not new in a country where the war is highly unpopular, but those calls don’t usually come from the country’s Prime Minister. The World’s Gerry Hadden reports.
GERRY HADDEN: As images of the bomb attack in Afghanistan reached Italian T.V. viewers yesterday, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was arriving in Brussels for an unrelated meeting. Pressed by reporters to comment on the deaths of the six Italian soldiers, Berlusconi said we are all convinced that the best thing for all of our troops is to leave soon, to no longer have a presence there. The Italian leader then added that he’s spoken recently with President Obama to discuss a withdrawal plan that could be enacted as soon as Italian troops finish their training of Afghan forces. Berlusconi did not say when that might be. But his remarks made headlines in Italy, where the war is already unpopular. Other Italian politicians are calling for a specific withdrawal time table. Speaking to World Focus T.V., Italian journalist Alesandra Baldini says what’s different now is that such calls are coming from Berlusconi’s enemies and allies alike.
ALESANDRA BALDINI: In last past hours there has been calls for rapid withdrawal of the troops. Not just by the left parties but the opposition but inside the majority, inside the government coalition. The Northern League, which is one of the strong blocks of the government coalition, called for troops back home by Christmas.
HADDEN: Italy has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan. 500 of them were already scheduled to return home in December. The political establishment’s demand for an accelerated withdrawal comes in direct response to fresh public outrage in Italy.
ITALIAN MAN: [In Italian]
HADDEN: This man told Italian T.V. they always say our soldiers are there for peace and to fight terrorism. But they should also figure out a way to let those boys come back home. But even as Italians question the length of the mission, NATO officials say they don’t foresee Italy staging a hasty retreat from Afghanistan. James Appathurai is a NATO spokesman in Brussels.
JAMES APPATHURAI: We obviously follow carefully national debates in all countries but what matters is the decisions that are taken ultimately by the government.
HADDEN: For now Italy’s government is staying the course. Prime Minister Berlusconi was careful to say that any withdrawal of troops must be done in agreement with other nations. But Appathurai acknowledges that public opinion across Europe is increasingly against the war. He says it’s pressure that can’t be ignored.
APPATHURAI: Very bluntly, yes, that is a concern for us. We need to show people, and that is people in our countries we’re referring right now, but as well, the Afghans as well, light at the end of the tunnel. They need to see progress. That is why district by district, province by province we need as soon as possible to be handing over the security responsibility to the Afghans. So that the Afghan people but also people in troop contributing countries can see that it is going somewhere.
HADDEN: Italy, Germany and France are calling for a conference later this year to map out just how and when that security transfer in Afghanistan can happen. For The World I’m Gerry Hadden.
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