Both Italy and the US on Thursday played down tensions sparked by the release of Taliban prisoners in return for the life of an Italian hostage in Afghanistan.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed differences over the deal in a phone call.
The US State Department said the "friendly" call had reaffirmed the "positive and important bilateral ties between Italy and the US... and the spirit of trust and friendship that has long existed between the two countries".
"The US does not agree with the exchange of hostages or other concessions to terrorists. This is not a new position. It is a well-known and long-standing policy," it said, stressing it expected no more such concessions.
D'Alema, meanwhile, said that "the US position with regard to kidnappings is not new and has been repeated in other cases but this difference in approach to the Italian government cannot be painted as a rift between Italy and the US. No such rift exists".
Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released on Monday after 15 days in the hands of Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan.
The Afghan government freed five Taliban prisoners in exchange for his release.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi has come under fire at home and abroad over the deal.
The US State Department confirmed on Thursday that it was "concerned" by the release of the five prisoners and the "potential consequences".
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told a news briefing that "we don't negotiate with terrorists and we urge others not to do so".
The Italian foreign ministry had earlier expressed "surprise" at the criticism, with D'Alema saying there had been "no trace of American irritation" over the case during a meeting with Rice in Washington earlier this week.
But McCormack explained that Rice had been unaware of the terms of the hostage deal when she met D'Alema on Monday night for an informal dinner.
Tensions over the case began to surface on Wednesday, when a senior official in US President George W. Bush's administration, who asked not to be named, told ANSA that "striking deals with kidnappers is never a positive thing" and that the released militants would go on to help the Taliban fight US and other NATO forces in Afghanistan.
"This increases the risks for our troops, Afghan troops and international forces," he said.
At the same time, an official at the British Foreign Office told ANSA that the British government was "concerned by the implications of the release of the Taliban" and had raised the matter with both Rome and Kabul.
The unnamed official said it had "sent the wrong message" to the Taliban and would encourage kidnappings.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman said this week that the Mastrogiacomo case was "exceptional" and would not be repeated in future.
"The Taliban presented their demands, some of which were satisfied. It was an exceptional measure which reflected the value of our relations with Italy," the spokesman said.
One of those released was reported to be Mansoor Ahmad, a brother of top Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah.
Two other commanders, Hambdullah and Abdol Ghaffar, are believed to have been freed together with a former Taliban spokesman and a Taliban culture representative.
D'ALEMA VERSION OF HOSTAGE DEAL.
D'Alema defended the government on Thursday, saying on a TV current affairs show to be aired Thursday night that "it would be difficult to accuse the Italian government of having negotiated with or freed terrorists".
Speaking on state broadcaster RAI's show Porta a Porta, D'Alema said that "we did not negotiate with anyone but received a list of names through a humanitarian association (Emergency). We didn't free anyone because they weren't our prisoners. Instead, we passed the list on to the Afghan government which decided that these people were not too dangerous to be released".
"As far as I know, of the list of six, five were released," said D'Alema, who is also deputy premier.
He said it was "normal" for an aid organisation to have handled the negotiation because "governments neither can nor want to deal with terrorists" and thanked both Emergency and the Afghan government.
But the minister appeared to contradict himself by adding that "I do not regret having saved Mastrogiacomo. It's preferable to have polemics over the fact that we saved him rather than have over the fact that he was killed".
Emergency, an Italian aid organisation which played a decisive role in the negotiations, subsequently issued a statement saying it had "simply carried out the actions requested of it, holding them to be compatible with its nature (of being neutral and pacifist)".
"We got involved at the Italian government's request and acted as a go-between for the Italian government and the kidnappers... We did not take any autonomous initiatives," said Emergency, which runs three hospitals and more than 30 other facilities in Afghanistan.
The Italian centre-right opposition, meanwhile, accused Prodi of "giving in to terrorists" and encouraging the Taliban to carry out more kidnappings.
Ex-premier and opposition chief Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday that Italy's credibility was damaged and that "it's clear we are no longer a trustworthy ally for the US".
