A Taleban commander and two senior Afghan officials confirmed yesterday that Italian forces paid protection money to prevent attacks on their troops.

After furious denials in Rome of a Times report that the Italian authorities had paid the bribes, the Afghans gave further details of the practice. Mohammed Ishmayel, a Taleban commander, said that a deal was struck last year so that Italian forces in the Salobi area, east of Kabul, were not attacked by local insurgents.

The payment of protection money was revealed after the death of ten French soldiers in August 2008 at the hands of large Taleban force in Sarobi. French forces had taken over the district from Italian troops, but were unaware of secret Italian payments to local commanders to stop attacks on their forces and consequently misjudged local threat levels.

Italians paying protection money?

No surprises there.

That's a cultural thing, a tradition, if you will.

Meh, is really no BFD. In Iraq a large measure of the "success" there came from bribing the Iraqis ostensibly to fight the AQ but more importantly to not fight Americans.

Over 190,000 AK-47s and other weaponry has gone "missing" in that campaign and it has largely been accepted that they were sold for profit by unscrupulous military types and contractors.

This typa thing goes on all the time, unfortunately.

Be Well.

"Italians bribing/doing business with Taliban"

On the one hand you have to argue that Obama needs to kick them out of Afghanistan altogether if this is the case because it means that the Italians are only there to create the appearance of supporting the US. If the Italians are paying off the Taliban not to attack them, then the Taliban is free to attack Americans elsewhere.

That means that the Italians are indirectly responsible for the deaths of American soldiers in the same way that the Taliban was indirectly responsible for the deaths on 9/11 by turning a blind eye to Al Quaeda's behavior in their country.

On the other hand.... actually I'm not sure there is another hand.

Now, if this is acknowledged by American media, Obama is between Iraq and a hard place. If it is not covered by the American media, Obama is privately in a no-win situation with respect to the Italian forces. You can't even coordinate with them any more.

Meh, is really no BFD. In Iraq a large measure of the "success" there came from bribing the Iraqis ostensibly to fight the AQ but more importantly to not fight Americans.

That comparison doesn't hold water. In Iraq, the Americans, for all intents and purposes, ARE the foreign military presence, with the forces from the coalition of the willing few and far between. Just faulty logic, spud.

Now, if this is acknowledged by American media

It won't be.

It won't be.
#5 | Posted by Tosser

This thread can't even get acknowledged by the rest of the retort. There is no left v right angle.

Now that's an inconvenient truth.

Meh. No shocker here. Italians are practically Arabs. They are militarily incompetent and treacherous. Only good at stab you in the back and run like hell type of fighting - preferably against much defenseless opponents. Only way I could be less surprised is if you replaced the Italians in this story with Greeks.

That means that the Italians are indirectly responsible for the deaths of American soldiers in the same way that the Taliban was indirectly responsible for the deaths on 9/11 by turning a blind eye to Al Quaeda's behavior in their country.

The Pentagon did a count, and came up with over 80,000 guns gone "missing" in Afghanistan. (meaning in taliban hands)

I did say, "you can't trust your European allies".

And this news comes out. LOL

Pakistan and Canada send the most troops on UN peace-keeping missions around the world.

We have partnered many times with Italians.

They are great people to be around... but LOUSY when it comes to fighting.

And now it turns out they are, at the very least, collaborating with the other side, or at worst, selling them weapons and doing drug deals.

Either way, one would be stupid to trust NATO.

"And now it turns out they are, at the very least, collaborating with the other side, or at worst, selling them weapons and doing drug deals."

What's the optimal end-game scenario here?

When we can't even trust our allies to have our back, its way past time to back out, and start talking to the Taliban.

Such a truly ridiculous and humiliating period in this country's history.

When we can't even trust our allies to have our back, its way past time to back out, and start talking to the Taliban.

Well yeah.

You can't keep ignoring the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

They might take it personally. LOL

Italians are basically the european negro.
Yes, I hate italians too.

Hagbard,
I shot at you in the inter-racial marriage thread. WTF?

"Yes, I hate italians too."

No you don't.

Without us, you wouldn't have half the good jokes you have.

You love us.

You love us.
#14 | Posted by Lisa

Mama mia!

"Italians bribing/doing business with Taliban"

"Obama bribing/doing business with Al-Qaeda"