ROME, Dec.2 (Xinhua) -- Italy is ready to do its part in support of the new U.S. strategy of boosting manpower in Afghanistan, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a conference, Frattini said Italy would back U.S. President Barack Obama's plan of an initial troop surge of 30,000 soldiers in the insurgency-ravaged country, which would be followed by a gradual disengagement starting from 2011.
Obama on Tuesday also asked his country's allies to do their part by adding forces on the field.
In response, Frattini said Italy was ready to send more troops, but had not yet decided on the scale of the new commitment.
"We hope the other allies will do as much as we do," said the foreign minister, who hoped his European colleagues could adopt a burden-sharing approach and set concrete targets.
"(Up till now) we have seen some uncertainty on France's part, while Germany has decided to postpone any decision and Britain has made what appears to be a minimum commitment," he said.
"Afghanistan is a test case of the Atlantic Alliance's credibility. It is evident that Italy will have to finish the job it began with NATO and contribute even more than it has in the past," he said.
Frattini also agreed with Obama's stand on disengaging from Afghanistan "little by little as that nation shows it can take care of its own security. But this cannot take forever, by 2013 at the latest."
On Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Ander Fogh Rasmussen announced that the alliance would send "at least an additional 5,000 troops to Afghanistan", and urged members to announce their respective increases.
Italy now has some 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, plus some 400 more which were sent to guarantee security during this year's presidential elections. It is believed that Washington has asked Italy to deploy a further 1,500 soldiers.
Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said last week that the additional troops would be found by downsizing the country's presence in missions in Kosovo and Lebanon.
