Afstan: Not very worthwhile Italian initiative

The time is not yet right to start broad negotiations (see International Crisis Group (ICG) views below).

Italy wants a review of international policy in Afghanistan, saying the time is ripe for new choices in world affairs following the U.S. midterm elections, the foreign minister said.

In two interviews published Friday, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema [a former Communist and currently a leading member of Italy's largest leftist party] also called on the United States to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...

"The strategy of military intervention that has been followed so far unfortunately has turned out to be ineffective,"..

"Italy is working to organize an international conference on Afghanistan. We want to start a review and a relaunch of multilateral strategies, starting with this area," D'Alema was quoted as saying. "If we don't do this, the military mission is bound to fail [why? sounds like Taliban Jack - MC]."..

This is what the ICG says ("UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said of Crisis Group: "[T]he International Crisis Group [is] a global voice of conscience, and a genuine force for peace..." so they can't be Bush-lackeys):

...action is needed now. This includes putting more international forces into the battle zones but insurgencies are never beaten by military means alone, and there are no quick fixes. Diplomatic pressure on Pakistan is needed, and the government of President Karzai must show political will to respond to internal discontent with serious efforts to attack corruption, work with the elected National Assembly and extend the rule of law by ending the culture of impunity. Afghanistan needs a renewed, long-term effort to build an effective, fair government that provides real security to its people...

...Political strategy talk seems to focus increasingly on making a deal with the Taliban. That is a bad idea [except for localized agreements, I would maintain - MC]. The key to restoring peace and stability to Afghanistan is not making concessions to the violent extremists but meeting the legitimate grievances of the population – who for the most part have eagerly supported democratisation.

The intervention in Afghanistan has been done on the cheap. Compared even to many recent post-conflict situations (Bosnia, Kosovo) it was given proportionately many fewer peacekeepers and less resources...Those prepared to go south and east to confront the Taliban – mainly the U.S., UK, Canada, the Netherlands, Romania, Australia and Denmark – are to be congratulated. Others, such as Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Turkey, must be persuaded to be more flexible and remove restrictions that impede true interoperability of the international forces...

Fighting the insurgency and nation-building are mutually reinforcing. The Afghan government and the international community must accept that some short-term pain is inevitable and hold their nerve to pursue deep-rooted, substantive reform. The current violence is an urgent wake-up call for remedial action, not an excuse to give up at the hopelessness of it all. There is nothing inevitable about failure in Afghanistan...[my emphasis - MC]