Romano Prodi, Italian prime minister, came under attack again on Wednesday over his government's stance on the Afghan conflict, four weeks after his centre-left coalition nearly collapsed when it lost a parliamentary vote on foreign policy. Opposition deputies criticised the government for arranging with the Afghan government to free five Taliban prisoners in exchange for an Italian journalist who was kidnapped in southern Afghanistan on March 5. Mr Prodi faces a difficult vote in the Senate, parliamentÂ’s upper house, next Tuesday when he will try to win approval to renew funding for military operations in Afghanistan. Italy has 1,900 soldiers in Afghanistan, part of a 31,000-strong Nato-led force. But communists and pacifists in Mr ProdiÂ’s coalition want to withdraw the Italian contingent, and a few may vote against the government next week. When two dissident leftists refused to back the government in a Senate vote on Afghanistan and other foreign policy issues on February 21, Mr Prodi submitted his resignation. He later won a do-or-die confidence vote and stayed in office.
His government’s dilemma was highlighted on Tuesday when Massimo D’Alema, foreign minister, said Taliban insurgents were moving closer to the western Afghan city of Herat, where 750 Italian soldiers are based. “Unfortunately, the guerrillas are arriving even at Herat, and I don’t think the Italian troops are in a good situation. We are going to be facing some difficult moments,” Mr D’Alema said in New York.
Mr DÂ’Alema is trying to remove the poison of the Afghan conflict from centre-left politics by emphasising his governmentÂ’s efforts to convene a peace conference that would include AfghanistanÂ’s neighbours. The idea has won some support from ItalyÂ’s Nato allies but radical leftist politicians have disrupted the ministerÂ’s diplomacy by demanding that the Taliban also attend any conference on Afghanistan. Mr Prodi hopes to win the Senate vote without relying on opposition support, as otherwise his government would be exposed as lacking a majority of its own on a vital foreign policy issue.
Except for the populist Northern League party, the opposition supports involvement in Afghanistan. But some centre-right politicians are unhappy about the government’s dealings with the Taliban to free the kidnapped reporter. “Our vote [to renew funding] cannot be taken for granted,” Altero Matteoli, a leader of the rightwing National Alliance party, said yesterday. “The release of five terrorists is the worrying aspect of this affair.”