(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The majority of people in Italy want their country’s troops serving in Afghanistan to return home but they have different opinions on when, according to a poll by IPR Marketing published in La Repubblica. 22 per cent of respondents support an immediate troop removal, while 34 per cent say a gradual withdrawal would be better.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The majority of people in Italy want their country’s troops serving in Afghanistan to return home but they have different opinions on when, according to a poll by IPR Marketing published in La Repubblica. 22 per cent of respondents support an immediate troop removal, while 34 per cent say a gradual withdrawal would be better.
Conversely, 37 per cent of respondents oppose bringing Italian troops back from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan has been the main battleground in the war on terrorism. The conflict began in October 2001, after the Taliban regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden without evidence of his participation in the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Al-Qaeda operatives hijacked and crashed four airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people.
At least 1,266 soldiers—including 14 Italians—have died in the war on terrorism, either in support of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom or as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Italy currently has 3,650 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
Last month, Umberto Bossi, reform minister and head of the anti-immigrant Northern League (LN) party, said that the government "would bring them all home", referring to soldiers serving in Afghanistan after three of them were lightly wounded in combat.
On Jul. 27, Italian defence minister Ignazio La Russa denied the existence of a plan to pull out from Afghanistan, saying, "I don’t know. Not right now. We will come home when the mission is finished: when the Afghan government will be able to control its territory, when the army and police will be able to face off with the rebels."
Polling Data
Do you support or oppose withdrawing all Italian soldiers from Afghanistan?
|
Support an immediate withdrawal
|
22%
|
|
Support a gradual withdrawal
|
34%
|
|
Oppose a withdrawal
|
37%
|
|
No opinion
|
7%
|
Source: IPR Marketing / La Repubblica
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Italian adults, conducted on Jul. 29, 2009. No margin of error was provided.
