Afghan effort hurt by Iraq, bad strategy -Italy min

ROME, Oct 28 (Reuters) The peacekeeping effort in Afghanistan is worsening because the United States concentrated its efforts in Iraq and strategists underestimated the difficulty of the task, Italy's foreign minister said.

Massimo D'Alema, who is a keen proponent of the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan but opposed the Iraq war, said Italy's roughly 1,300 troops will remain in Afghanistan.

But he called for an international conference among NATO members, the United Nations and Afghanistan's neighbours to discuss the mission, according to excerpts from a forthcoming book published today day by Italy's ANSA news agency.

''It's getting bad in part because the United States concentrated greater effort in Iraq and then because in Afghanistan there was an ineffective strategy that underestimated political and economic elements,'' D'Alema said in the book, ANSA said.

The book by Italian journalist Bruno Vespa, due to go on sale on November 4, is called ''Italy divided -- A country between Prodi and Berlusconi'', referring to Italy's present and former prime ministers.

''We can send all of the troops that we want, but if in 2006 the production of opium rose 160 per cent, this is the most resonating evidence of failure,'' D'Alema was quoted as saying in the book.

Fighting, mainly in the Taliban's southern stronghold, is the worst since US-led forces drove the group from power in 2001. More than 3,000 people have died this year, including hundreds of civilians and about 150 foreign soldiers.

The mission in Afghanistan has divided the centre-left government in Italy, forcing it to call a confidence vote to win financing for the mission.

The recent killings of civilians in Afghanistan has also struck a raw nerve in Italy, with Defence Minister Arturo Parisi strongly condemning the deaths today.

Witnesses and officials say NATO air strikes in Kandahar province, where the Taliban began and remain strong, killed at least 50 civilians this week.

''The same solidarity toward our allies ... obliges us to express the most firm condemnation for the deaths of innocent civilians following the bombing by Isaf (International Security Assistance Force),'' Parisi told Italian media.

REUTERS PB VC2255