Casini gives an helping hand to Prodi

The decree on
the refinancing of Italy’s
mission in Afghanistan,
which passed on Tuesday at the Senate also thanks to the votes of Casini’s
opposition party “UDC”, confirmed the fact that the Government does not possess
a self-sufficient majority on crucial issues such as foreign policy. Casini
himself declared, after the vote, that, as it is, the Cabinet cannot guarantee
a solid and reliable support for our soldiers, who are prisoners in the limbo
of the much discussed “caveats”, the political restrictions limiting the
activity of our contingent, which, in the name of a “pacifist” policy that
seems utterly detached from the Afghan reality, inevitably translates into
operational hurdles, affecting the very security of our troops on the ground.

The Government,
through Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema, has explained that the caveats will
not be modified in order to preserve the “civil and humanitarian” nature of the
Italian mission. By so doing, it has apparently decided to ignore the evident
exacerbation of the afghan military picture, acknowledged by most of its
allies, and the new danger tied to the consequences of Italian journalist
Daniele Mastrogiacomo’s liberation. In other words, to sacrifice the security of
Italy’s
soldiers in exchange for the support of the radical leftist Parties, who seem,
everyday more, to be holding the Government a hostage of its ideological whims
and wishful thinking.