Italy’s contribution to the fund to support Afghanistan’s security forces at the end of the transition in late 2014 will be “substantial and in line with the size and quality of its presence in Afghanistan over the last decade”. The assurance was given by Minister Giulio Terzi, speaking in Brussels during the meeting of NATO Foreign and Defence Ministers. Defence Minister Giampaolo Di Paola noted that Italy recently signed a long-term collaboration agreement with Afghanistan. “It’s a need that goes beyond the military dimension, to cover governance and economic development too”, he explained.
The security challenge
The Brussels meeting discussed the resources to be allocated to Afghanistan post-2014, but the calculations will be done at the Chicago Summit on 20-21 May 2012. For Italy’s part, said Terzi, the contribution “will, we hope, be announced before the Chicago event”. Summing up at the end of the meeting, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said that the response from the allies had been encouraging: “The Afghan security forces are on the right track and we’re confident we have the necessary resources to train and recruit them”.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen underscored that it is in the interest of the entire international community to have Afghan forces that are capable of tackling the security challenge alone. From an economic perspective it is much less costly to fund local forces than to deploy international troops in Afghanistan.
In US Defence Minister Leon Panetta’s view, what emerged from the NATO meeting was the allies’ determination to finish their work there. The allies cannot and will not abandon Afghanistan.
By the end of 2014, the 130,000 foreign troops serving under NATO command will gradually pull out of the country. France has announced it will withdraw a year earlier. “Italy will only decide the timetable for the withdrawal of its 4000 soldiers at the end of 2012”, said Defence Minister Di Paolo, and it will do so in coordination with its allies”.
Marines: contacts continue in Brussels
In Brussels, Italy also took forward its initiatives to resolve the case of the two marines held in India. “We are in constant contact with our main partners”, said Terzi, who discussed the question with the Foreign Minister of Denmark, which currently holds the EU Presidency. Denmark, he explained, is taking a close interest in the issue of freedom of movement at sea, international jurisdiction over vessels on the high seas and exclusive jurisdiction over military personnel engaged in counter-piracy activity, which in itself represents 10% of European maritime traffic. The issue of combating piracy was also addressed by the NATO Council-Russia meeting, where Terzi reiterated “the principle of national jurisdiction over ships of the flag state in international waters and over military personnel acting as ‘organs of the state’”.
