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| Europe |
| Debate Over Italian Troop Withdrawal from Afghanistan Heats Up |
| 2009-09-19 |
| The killing of six Italian soldiers in Afghanistan has re-ignited the debate over whether troops should be withdrawn from the country. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has assured the nation that a reduction of the troops deployed in the war-ravaged country has already been planned. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says Italy is looking to discuss a "transition strategy" in Afghanistan to transfer security duties to Afghan forces and allow foreign troops to progressively pull out. He was speaking a day after Italy suffered its deadliest attack to date in Afghanistan. Six Italian soldiers were killed in Kabul on Thursday when a suicide bomber ran his explosive laden car into two military vehicles. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite the debate over troop withdrawal, Mr. Berlusconi says Italy remains committed to defending democracy in Afghanistan. He said, "We are all convinced it's best for everybody to get out soon" adding that Italian troops had been increased in Afghanistan for the recent elections. He says Italy already had plans to bring home some 400 to 500 troops. He also said, however, that further withdrawal of any of Italy's remaining 2,800 soldiers is not a decision that Italy can take on its own but needs to be taken with the other countries involved in the mission. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 A useful expansion of my little point, dear WolfDog. Thank you. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-09-19 20:59 |
| #5 #4 Given how the American commander-in-chief has been talking about Afghanistan, can you blame the various other participants for being less than enthusiastic about continuing? Posted by: trailing wife 2009-09-19 10:07 TW, not just talking about Afghanistan, but also throwing long time allies (Poland, Czech Republic) under the bus; you can't really blame our friends for not wanting to "waste" their people on one of Bambi's whims. |
| Posted by: WolfDog 2009-09-19 11:11 |
| #4 Given how the American commander-in-chief has been talking about Afghanistan, can you blame the various other participants for being less than enthusiastic about continuing? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-09-19 10:07 |
| #3 "Soldier of the Great War" is a great book about an Italian soldier in World War 1. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-09-19 09:34 |
| #2 My concern is that the inevitable withdrawl is hasty and ill-planned leaving behind another Somalia or worse a regional power struggle. India has only to grab a couple of hundred square kilometers of disputed Kashmir and they have a land route to Afghanistan and the whole of central Asia. China would never stand for that. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2009-09-19 05:50 |
| #1 I don't think Italy ever recovered from its bloody WWI fight against the Austro-Hungarian and German armies, in the eleven battles of the Isonzo River. 650,000 Italian dead and over a million wounded. And they were not even partially recovered by WWII, that decimated them further. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-19 00:20 |