Political feuding sparked by a peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan continued on Wednesday, despite applause from Italy's international allies at Senate approval of a decree keeping Italian soldiers in the conflict-torn nation.
Italy has some 1,900 Italian troops serving in Afghanistan under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The Senate on Tuesday night approved the refinancing of the mission in a tense vote with 180 votes in favour, two against and 132 abstentions. Abstentions count as 'no' votes in the Senate.
In Washington, US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said America "welcomed" the outcome of the vote and was "pleased at Italy's continued participation in NATO operations in Afghanistan".
"America appreciates what Italy is doing to help the Afghan people," Fried added.
Meanwhile, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said from Brussels that "we are pleased with the Senate vote which will allow Italy to maintain its commitments in Afghanistan".
"Italian troops are making a visible difference in west Afghanistan and it's very positive that this contribution will continue," Appathurai said at a news briefing.
But the vote caused headaches for both political sides in Italy.
Premier Romano Prodi has had problems with hard-leftists and pacifists in his fragile nine-party coalition who are pushing for a troop pullout because of worsening security conditions in Afghanistan.
The centre-left premier holds only two more Senate seats than the Silvio Berlusconi-led opposition, making any vote there a highly tense affair.
Prodi briefly resigned last month after his 10-month-old government lost a foreign policy Senate vote which included approval of the Afghan mission.
As it was, centre-left votes alone in the Tuesday ballot amounted to 155, three short of the majority, with a hard-left senator who contributed to the government's February defeat voting against the decree.
The measure was approved with 20 extra 'yes' votes from the opposition centrist UDC party, which was part of Berlusconi's alliance in the April 2006 elections but is now a separate and autonomous unit.
Life senators provided another four votes and one came from a rebel senator in Berlusconi's own Forza Italia party.
Berlusconi said after the vote that Prodi had nothing to rejoice over because the vote had confirmed he lacked a majority on foreign policy.
"The government is not legitimate. It doesn't have a real majority and it is not self-sufficient," the centre-right chief said.
The UDC requested and obtained a meeting with President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday evening in which they complained about the government's "weakness and precarious majority".
The party said it did not want early elections but a "technical" government which would see Italy through while it reformed the electoral system in order to give the country more stable future governments.
The UDC's unanointed leader Pierferdinando Casini said that "if Prodi were honest, he would resign".
PRODI SEES TURNING POINT WITH OPPOSITION SPLIT.
But the centre left said the split in the opposition, with the UDC opting to back the government instead of Berlusconi, was the only politically relevant fact about the vote.
Prodi proclaimed the ballot a "political turning point" because "the majority is united and the opposition split".
The vote led to open feuding between the UDC and the rest of the opposition, with Forza Italia bigwig Fabrizio Cicchitto saying: "Casini has made a big mistake".
But by Wednesday evening, there were signs that the row was easing.
Casini's decision to see Napolitano was applauded by other opposition parties while the UDC chief himself stressed that "we are a force of firm opposition and we will continue to battle in parliament as an opposition force - we are not interested in variable majorities or forms of union with this government".
He said his party had voted in favour of the Senate decree for foreign policy reasons alone stemming from Italy's international obligations.
Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, meanwhile, accused Berlusconi of a "worrying about-turn", noting that the opposition had voted in favour of the decree in the House.
"Berlusconi has failed in his national duty to support our armed forces in missions abroad," he said, stressing that it was the previous, Berlusconi government which had sent Italian troops to Afghanistan in the first place.
"Only Berlusconi would have thought of exploiting this issue to try and bring the government down," D'Alema said.
Forza Italia defended its decision, saying Italian troops in Afghanistan were inadequately equipped to face the increasing dangers there and criticising the government over a controversial hostage swap deal with the Taliban.
Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released on March 19 after 15 days in the hands of Taliban militants. In exchange for his freedom, five Taliban prisoners were released by the Afghan government.
The government came under fire over the deal at home and abroad, with critics saying it encouraged kidnappings, increased the dangers faced by NATO troops in Afghanistan and went against the policy of never negotiating with terrorists.
The Italian government's unusual public admission of the deal fuelled the criticism.
