Pacifists wage war on Italy PM over Afghanistan

ROME, June 26 (Reuters) Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi is fighting one of his toughest battles yet with pacifist allies who are urging him to pull Italian troops out of Afghanistan.

Emboldened by Italy's decision to withdraw forces from Iraq, some communists in the new prime minister's coalition have shifted their sights to Afghanistan where some 1,300 Italian troops serve in a NATO-led peacekeeping force.

Prodi and cabinet ministers are finalising a measure this week to extend financing for Italy's overseas forces - a move that has revealed deep cracks in the centre left.

Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema has not ruled out sending more troops or warplanes.

But allies who voted against Afghanistan financing for years before the centre left's April election victory are baulking.

''I call for the return of our soldiers,'' said Oliviero Diliberto, leader of Italian Communists.

Communist Refoundation, the larger of two hard-left parties in the ruling coalition, and the pacifist Greens are calling for at least a timetable for withdrawal.

Some lawmakers in the Senate, where Prodi has only a two-seat advantage, have said he risks bringing down his two-month-old government and forcing snap elections if he tries to ram the measure through with a confidence vote.

''It looks very difficult for them to win a majority, very difficult,'' Manuela Palermi, a member of the Italian Communists party who sits on the Senate Defence Committee, told Reuters.

To forge a compromise, the government could put added emphasis on civilian instead of military efforts and clarify that Italy's mission in Afghanistan is not open-ended.

''It's understandable that the Communist Refoundation, which has always voted against the Afghanistan mission, is somewhat troubled,'' said D'Alema. ''But compromises are possible.'' The clock is ticking as current funding expires on June 30. The government hopes to adopt a decree on financing at a Friday cabinet meeting. The decree would then go before parliament.

ANTI-AMERICANISM? Many on the far left see the Afghanistan mission as an extension of the US-led war on terrorism, championed by former centre-right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The biggest parties in Prodi's bloc say Afghanistan is different as it is led by NATO with UN backing.

''The radical left has a strong dose of anti-Americanism,'' said Gianni Riotta, deputy editor of Corriere della Sera newspaper. He estimated as much as a third of Prodi's coalition had reservations about the Afghanistan mission.

''I'm positive that the refinancing will go through. But for sure, it's going to be a tough test for Prodi.'' Berlusconi has predicted that Afghanistan will bring down Prodi's young government.

But leaders of the centrist Union of Christian Democrats (UDC), skittish members of Berlusconi's opposition, have said they might vote to extend the mission even if that meant rescuing their centre-left adversaries in a confidence vote.

''Why shouldn't we vote for a mission that we supported?'' said Rocco Buttiglione, a former centre-right minister.

But if Prodi has to rely on his centre-right opponents, it could spell danger for his governing coalition by driving a wedge between the hard left and moderates, who might be tempted to ally with centrists from Berlusconi's bloc.

''The ruling majority must find an agreement among ourselves,'' Paolo Cento of the Green Party told Reuters.

''This thing about the UDC is a poison meatball.'' Reuters SHR VV1656