ITALY: Govt Divided Over Presence in Afghanistan

By Sabina Zaccaro Reprint | | Print |

Sabina Zaccaro

ROME, Jul 17 2006 (IPS) - The new centre-left government is facing divisions within its ranks over renewed funding for NATO-led military operations in Afghanistan.

The government has approved financing for Italy’s military mission in Afghanistan in the face of opposition from far-left allies in the ruling coalition. But the decision is being debated in parliament from Monday. A vote is due Jul. 25.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi has decided to withdraw troops from Iraq by the end of the year, and many green and left members now want Italian troops also out of Afghanistan.

But there is a new element to the government approval. “Within the refinancing operations of the military mission, we will introduce a permanent monitoring activity in the parliament regarding all the international commitments of Italy, Afghanistan included,” Marina Sereni, senior leader in the ruling Olive Tree coalition told IPS.

“A parliamentary committee will constantly verify if Italy’s presence and actions are coherent with the goals defined by our government – the normalisation and pacification of the country – before handing responsibility over to the Kabul government.”

This monitoring mechanism “will target in particular our supporting role of the U.S. mission, considering the possibility and timing for a gradual exit from it, while confirming our intention to bear out the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) mission together with the European partners,” she said.

Italy supports the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan with around 1,300 soldiers. The Isaf mission is led by Gen. David Richards from Britain, who replaced Italian Gen. Mario del Vecchio in May.

One Isaf aim is to maintain security in Afghanistan and facilitate institutional development of the country through humanitarian aid and reconstruction. But Isaf also supports U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom against international terrorism arising in the Afghan region.

The growing ambiguity over the two military initiatives – the first considered more ‘civil oriented’ where the second is evidently military – is at the core of an ongoing dispute in Italy.

“The role of military units in the country is extremely doubtful,” Nino Sergi, secretary-general of Intersos, one of the biggest Italian non-governmental organisations working in Afghanistan told IPS. “They include fighting forces, stabilisation forces and reconstruction forces. But in the end that could mean they are none of these things.”

The Afghan population, tired by years of war, do not trust any of them, he said. “And this also complicates our relationships with local people, making our work harder. Humanitarian aid needs to be clearly separated from the political responsibility of peacekeeping.” Intersos has been working in Afghanistan since 2001.

The military can have a role to play in protecting populations, he said. “We had some form of cooperation with them in Somalia, Bosnia, Mozambique, Kosovo and Pakistan.” But in Afghanistan, he said, the government must now begin evaluation of what has been done before deciding on an exit strategy or other options.

Prodi sees the extension of funding as an important signal to European partners that his government is a reliable NATO member.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan visited Rome Jul. 12 in the middle of the ongoing dispute. Annan spoke of “the excellent collaboration and relationship established with Italy” in supporting the Afghan mission.

“We cannot allow a country to face dramatic situations on its own,” he said. Troops from Italy, the United States and other NATO countries had played a “fundamental” role in maintaining stability in Afghanistan, he said.

In an interview to the daily Il Sole 24 Ore, U.S. President George W. Bush urged Prodi’s government to stay with its NATO allies in Afghanistan to help rebuild the country.

“Whoever has to decide whether to stay or go from Afghanistan should look at the consequences of failure and take into account what are the benefits of freedom for the people of Afghanistan,” he was quoted as saying.

But some reports from Afghanistan speak a different language..

“After the fall of the Taliban government, Kabul is overcome by delinquency, prostitution, drug consumption, pollution and inaccessible prices, and foreign embassies are just like bunkers,” Gino Strada, chief surgeon and director of the international medical relief organisation Emergency wrote from Kabul in the daily La Repubblica last week. He has been working in Afghanistan since 1999.

Strada has been arguing that all foreign troops should leave the country. “Are we sure that five years ago the situation was worse?”

At a public demonstration called in Rome Saturday by eight legislators from the pacifist wing of Romano Prodi’s coalition, several ‘dissident’ senators announced they would vote against the refinancing of the mission in Afghanistan.

Many political leaders, members of civil society groups and leading figures in the cultural world supported their position.