Premier Romano Prodi said on Wednesday he was "hopeful" of a rapid release for an Italian reporter kidnapped by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
Italian diplomats and the country's intelligence are working flat-out in Rome and Kabul to obtain the release of Daniele Mastrogiacomo, 52, a correspondent for Italian daily La Repubblica.
Officials at the foreign ministry in Rome appeared certain on Wednesday that the reporter was abducted in the southern city of Kandahar by a "military structure" answering to the Taliban.
They said that so far Italian authorities had received no demands from the captors. La Repubblica said on Tuesday that its correspondent had gone missing while trying to talk to Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesmen were reported as saying on Tuesday that Mastrogiacomo, whom they suspected of being a British spy, was being interrogated.
Mastrogiacomo, who has Swiss and Italian citizenship, was born in Pakistan and speaks English fluently. He is a war correspondent with experience covering conflicts in Iraq, the Middle East and Somalia.
The kidnapping comes at a particularly sensitive moment in Italian politics. On Wednesday the lower house of parliament was scheduled to begin voting on a measure guaranteeing funding to 1,900 Italian troops in Afghanistan.
There is tension in Prodi's coalition over the continued presence of Italian forces in the country, especially in the wake of developments this week.
In a bid to crush Taliban resistance to the government of Hamid Karzai, NATO and Afghan forces launched a major offensive in the southern region of Helmand on Monday - the biggest in the country since the 2001 war.
Mastrogiacomo last got in touch with La Repubblica Sunday night when he told his paper he was in the region of Kandahar, to the east of its stormier neighbour, on the Pakistan border.
He said he planned to try to talk to leaders of the Islamist militants who have retaken large parts of the south since US-led forces drove them from power in late 2001.
The Italian foreign ministry has activated its Crisis Unit and is making every effort through its Kabul embassy to find Mastrogiacomo, diplomatic sources said.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema are following developments with concern, their offices said.
