ROME, June 30: Prime Minister Romano Prodi’s government agreed on Friday to keep Italian troops in Afghanistan despite opposition from pacifists in his coalition threatening to vote against the mission in parliament.

The cabinet unanimously adopted a decree that extends financing for Italy’s overseas military operations, including for its some 1,300 troops on a NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Arturo Parisi, in a nod to pacifists, said Rome would not send any additional troops or hike spending. But he also declined to lay out an exit strategy and warned it could take 25 years to fully resolve Afghanistan’s conflict.

“This doesn’t mean 25 years of military presence, but 25 years of ‘I care’, of our nation’s responsibility regarding the Afghan matter,” Mr Parisi told ANSA news agency after the cabinet meeting.

The debate over Italy’s troops in Afghanistan has exposed divisions in Mr Prodi’s disparate coalition, which ranges from Catholic centrists to communists, less than two months after he assumed power following a razor-thin election victory.

The decree will need parliamentary approval, and eight pacifists in Mr Prodi’s centre-left coalition have threatened to vote against the measure in the Senate, where the new prime minister has just a two-seat majority.

Seven of them confirmed their ‘NO’ votes on Thursday, according to Italian media.

“As far as I’m concerned, my vote stays decidedly ‘No’,” said Gigi Malabarba, a communist senator.

The government is expected to put the Afghanistan mission to a vote in parliament in mid-July. If the motion fails, it could trigger a government crisis.

“The majority’s political credibility is at stake if it can’t count on parliamentary support on foreign policy,” Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said earlier in the week.—Reuters