Italy to stay in Afganistan but no more troops, PM says

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http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/Italy_to_stay_in_Afganistan_but_no_more_troops_PM_says.html?siteSect=143&sid=7455855&cKey=1169502995000

ANKARA (Reuters) - Italy will keep soldiers in Afghanistan but will not increase their number, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said on Monday, insisting he would not give in to hard-left government factions demanding a pull-out.

Pacifists in Italy's centre left have threatened to vote against re-financing the 1,900-strong force in Afghanistan -- something parliament must do every six months. That would be a potentially fatal blow to Prodi's 9-month-old government.

Prodi pulled Italian troops out of Iraq last year, a conflict he said Italy should never have entered, but he insists Italy should remain part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Speaking to reporters during an official visit to Turkey, Prodi dismissed suggestions from coalition left-wingers that his administration was blunting the centre left's 'peaceful' 2006 election message.