Italy is to swell its forces in
Afghanistan to make up for the return home of a Spanish
contingent busy with Force Protection, Defence Undersecretary
Domenico Rossi told the House Friday.
"The government has decided to remodulate the reentry of
some of the contingent" from Afghanistan "and to increase its
numerical consistency" as of the end of 2015, "in a way held to
be suitable for compensating for the reentry of part of the
Spanish contingent that had been dedicated to Force Protection",
he said.
On October 19 a NATO commander said Italy, Germany and
Turkey are willing to keep their military in Afghanistan "at
current levels".
"Many of our partners have already communicated their
willingness to remain at current deployment levels," said top
NATO Europe commander, General Philip M. Breedlove.
US President Barack Obama said earlier this month he would
maintain the current force of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan
through most of next year to combat a growing Taliban
insurgency, then draw down to 5,500 troops in 2017, at a pace
still to be determined after consultation with commanders.
Premier Matteo Renzi indicated that Italy, too, would keep
up its commitment to the Taliban-plagued Asian country.
The mission has cost Italy 54 casualties and many wounded
over the past decade, and now numbers 750 personnel.
Of these, about 60 are deployed to the Kabul headquarters
of the Resolute Support Mission, which took over in an advisory
role after the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) ceased combat operations and was disbanded in December
2014.
The rest are deployed in the Western city of Herat.
The Italian mission is made up of logistics, a security
task force, a helicopter division called Phoenix, and some 100
military advisors from the Army and Carabinieri military police,
whose job it is to train the Afghan military.
It is currently financed with 59 million euros through
December 31.
A government decision to extend the mission beyond that
date would have to be approved by parliament.
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