Silvio Berlusconi today denied that his government authorised secret Italian payments to Taleban fighters that left French soldiers exposed in Afghanistan, amid a furious reaction to the details published in The Times. The Italian Prime Minister said that he was also unaware of any such action undertaken under the previous Government of Romano Prodi. The Times has learnt that when French soldiers arrived to assume control of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, in mid-2008, they were not informed that the departing Italians had kept the region relatively peaceful by paying local Taleban fighters to remain inactive. Western officials say that because the French knew nothing of the payments they made a catastrophically incorrect threat assessment.
Silvio Berlusconi today denied that his government authorised secret Italian payments to Taleban fighters that left French soldiers exposed in Afghanistan, amid a furious reaction to the details published in The Times.
The Italian Prime Minister said that he was also unaware of any such action undertaken under the previous Government of Romano Prodi.
The Times has learnt that when French soldiers arrived to assume control of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, in mid-2008, they were not informed that the departing Italians had kept the region relatively peaceful by paying local Taleban fighters to remain inactive.
Western officials say that because the French knew nothing of the payments they made a catastrophically incorrect threat assessment.
The French Defence Minister was called on today to give an urgent account to Parliament of the Taleban ambush that led to the deaths of ten soldiers in Afghanistan. As the Socialist Party reacted with anger to The Times report, the ministry said that it had long been aware of "rumours" that linked Italian bribery to the ambush in Sarobi, east of Kabul in August 2008. The reports had no basis, it said. Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Socialists' parliamentary leader, told Hervé Morin, the Defence Minister that the denial was not enough. "This is very serious, if it is true, and I ask the minister to come in the immediate future before the Defence Committee to explain and tell us what information he has," said Mr Ayrault. "If operations of this type are being used to administer certain areas . . . distributing money to the Taleban creates a general problem for the co-ordination of military operations," he added.
The French Defence Minister was called on today to give an urgent account to Parliament of the Taleban ambush that led to the deaths of ten soldiers in Afghanistan.
As the Socialist Party reacted with anger to The Times report, the ministry said that it had long been aware of "rumours" that linked Italian bribery to the ambush in Sarobi, east of Kabul in August 2008. The reports had no basis, it said.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Socialists' parliamentary leader, told Hervé Morin, the Defence Minister that the denial was not enough. "This is very serious, if it is true, and I ask the minister to come in the immediate future before the Defence Committee to explain and tell us what information he has," said Mr Ayrault.
"If operations of this type are being used to administer certain areas . . . distributing money to the Taleban creates a general problem for the co-ordination of military operations," he added.
When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified. Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated -- and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims' flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan. What the grieving nation did not know was that in the months before the French soldiers arrived in mid-2008, the Italian secret service had been paying tens of thousands of dollars to Taleban commanders and local warlords to keep the area quiet, The Times has learnt. The clandestine payments, whose existence was hidden from the incoming French forces, were disclosed by Western military officials. US intelligence officials were flabbergasted when they found out through intercepted telephone conversations that the Italians had also been buying off militants, notably in Herat province in the far west. In June 2008, several weeks before the ambush, the US Ambassador in Rome made a démarche, or diplomatic protest, to the Berlusconi Government over allegations concerning the tactic.
When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified.
Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated -- and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims' flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan.
What the grieving nation did not know was that in the months before the French soldiers arrived in mid-2008, the Italian secret service had been paying tens of thousands of dollars to Taleban commanders and local warlords to keep the area quiet, The Times has learnt. The clandestine payments, whose existence was hidden from the incoming French forces, were disclosed by Western military officials.
US intelligence officials were flabbergasted when they found out through intercepted telephone conversations that the Italians had also been buying off militants, notably in Herat province in the far west. In June 2008, several weeks before the ambush, the US Ambassador in Rome made a démarche, or diplomatic protest, to the Berlusconi Government over allegations concerning the tactic.
However, it would be worthwhile to put this in perspective. It is not uncommon in war to pay off local insurgents. In Afghanistan it has been a long standing practice to "rent" rather than "buy" local chiefs. Recently the US complained to the British for having done the same. Nor is French military intelligence in the dark on the matter. It is becoming a political issue with French MP's on the warpath.
It would certainly be more cost effective to just buy up allegiances- or rather rent them.
Murdoch: "I steal your milkshake!" Burlesconi: "I keel you!"
Whatever happened in Afghanistan is useful collateral damage in the media war.
