Monday, December 24, 2007
ITALIAN Prime Minister Romano Prodi held talks with President Hamid Karzai yesterday, the latest leader to visit from a nation that has troops here fighting Afghanistan's growing insurgency.
Prodi, whose Christmastime visit follows trips Saturday by the leaders of France and Australia, also met US General Dan McNeill, commander of a NATO-led force of nearly 40 nations helping the government battle Taliban unrest.
He celebrated Mass with some of the more than 1,000 Italian troops in Kabul before he was due to visit an International Security Assistance Force base in Herat where there are about 800 others, an Italian military official said.
Afghan officials meanwhile reported a string of new attacks linked to the Taliban, who launched an insurgency soon after they were driven from government in a US-led offensive in late 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda.
Three civilians were killed in a bomb blast in the east, while the Afghan and international militaries reported at least 14 Taliban killed in various incidents.
The past year has been the bloodiest in their insurgency, with a spike in suicide attacks. The deadliest killed nearly 80 people, 59 of them children, in November.
Support for the often-criticised mission has been waning in some of the other nations of ISAF, a force of about 40,000 that works with Afghan security forces and a US-led coalition of about 20,000 mostly US troops.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used their visits Saturday to stress commitment to Afghanistan.
Sarkozy told journalists the international community could not afford to lose the "war against terrorism" in the war-torn nation. He said the world must be united and committed in efforts to build Afghanistan and help it withstand insurgents linked with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Rudd said Australia would be involved in Afghanistan for the "long haul." He announced extra economic aid but did not say if he would keep the country's nearly 1,000 troops here after their mandate expires next year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the country last month while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was here earlier in December, also vowing more help.
The Taliban were removed from power weeks after the September 11 attacks by the Al-Qaeda network. The regime failed to heed warnings to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders it had sheltered for years.
As the insurgency has grown there has been a push to find other ways to defeat the insurgents. (AFP)
Prodi, whose Christmastime visit follows trips Saturday by the leaders of France and Australia, also met US General Dan McNeill, commander of a NATO-led force of nearly 40 nations helping the government battle Taliban unrest.
He celebrated Mass with some of the more than 1,000 Italian troops in Kabul before he was due to visit an International Security Assistance Force base in Herat where there are about 800 others, an Italian military official said.
Afghan officials meanwhile reported a string of new attacks linked to the Taliban, who launched an insurgency soon after they were driven from government in a US-led offensive in late 2001 for sheltering Al-Qaeda.
Three civilians were killed in a bomb blast in the east, while the Afghan and international militaries reported at least 14 Taliban killed in various incidents.
The past year has been the bloodiest in their insurgency, with a spike in suicide attacks. The deadliest killed nearly 80 people, 59 of them children, in November.
Support for the often-criticised mission has been waning in some of the other nations of ISAF, a force of about 40,000 that works with Afghan security forces and a US-led coalition of about 20,000 mostly US troops.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used their visits Saturday to stress commitment to Afghanistan.
Sarkozy told journalists the international community could not afford to lose the "war against terrorism" in the war-torn nation. He said the world must be united and committed in efforts to build Afghanistan and help it withstand insurgents linked with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Rudd said Australia would be involved in Afghanistan for the "long haul." He announced extra economic aid but did not say if he would keep the country's nearly 1,000 troops here after their mandate expires next year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the country last month while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was here earlier in December, also vowing more help.
The Taliban were removed from power weeks after the September 11 attacks by the Al-Qaeda network. The regime failed to heed warnings to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders it had sheltered for years.
As the insurgency has grown there has been a push to find other ways to defeat the insurgents. (AFP)
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