Iraq and Afghanistan occupy the pages of the main European dailies and periodicals, which link the fate of the two tormented countries to the recent summit between the USA and the European Union in Vienna. It provided an occasion to mend fences and reinforce the transatlantic links that have been severely put to the test by the intervention in Iraq. The definition of a common policy towards Iran’s nuclear ambitions and such issues as visas, energy and farm tariffs were also on the agenda. “Iraq-Afghanistan, the West checkmated” is the title of a comment on international politics published by the French daily Le Monde (21/6) and signed by Daniel Vernet who expatiates on the “ferocious opposition” that the two military interventions in the afore-mentioned countries are encountering, also due to the “growing hostility” of the populations towards their “liberators” . The Afghan question, according to Vernet, has “characteristics different from that of Iraq” . He recalls the great international solidarity after 11 September 2001, “when Bush succeeded in convincing a large coalition that the detestable regime of the Taleban in Kabul was the protector of Bin Laden and accomplice of Al Qaeda” . This led to “a mobilization of States that had nothing to do with the traditional alliances and gave the impression of a regrouping of the civilized Western world against the obscurantist mullahs” . But it’s now five years since “the coalition forces arrived in Afghanistan; billions of dollars have been spent. Afghanistan could have become an exemplary case of state building, of a modern State”. Instead, after all this time, “ the population is beginning to be intolerant of the foreign troops and President Karzai, to oppose the Taleban who occupy the southern part of the country, finds nothing better to do than appeal to the warlords whose rivalry is one of the main causes of the country’s poverty”. Meanwhile NATO is poised to “ assume command of its first ground operations outside the borders of Europe, risking to ruin its reputation in a foreign theatre”. The British daily The Guardian (20/6) dedicates a survey conducted by Declan Walsh , to Qalat, in Afghanistan, a village in the Arghandab valley in the province of Zabul, where the regular Afghan army (ANA) and the Taleban are fighting. The testimonies of Jamal Ludin, of Mirza and of other inhabitants recount all the “threats, outrages and abuses suffered” at the hands of the two sides in the conflict. “We were forced to help the Taleban – they admit -; they come in groups of 5, 10 or 20, armed and ask for food. They speak Urdu (Pakistani), or Arabic. There’s no point arguing with armed people” . For its part the army conducts “interrogations, unauthorized searches and perpetrates thefts” from people’s houses. Jamal Ludin, reports the paper, declares he “was beaten up by soldiers following a Taleban attack on the nearby military base” . The USA-EU summit in Vienna is also followed with close attention by the German press. Writing in the Frankfurter Rundschau (21/6), Jörg Reckmann comments: “ With its war against terrorism, the USA finds itself both from a military and political viewpoint in a situation in which it cannot extricate itself by itself alone. In Iraq the US armed forces have so far failed to create a relatively stable situation and in Afghanistan, years after the fall of the Taleban, new large-scale offensives are constantly needed to keep the enemy at bay. If the military situation is imponderable, the political one is catastrophic. For the majority of Europeans, American policy by now represents a threat to world peace. This is not a question of anti-American reflexes, but the loss of the moral high ground represented by such names as Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and Haditha, and also abandonment to a certain kind of religious and nationalist zeal“. “ The Usa-Eu summit could also be called an Iran-Iraq summit – so clear are the priorities of Bush“, comments Die Welt . “ The Europeans… hesitate openly to endorse the policy of Bush, not only due to the risks in Iraq but also due to the growing notoriety of the Usa at the moral level“. The Europeans “ would like a conciliatory gesture from Bush, whether in the form of an explanation of the anti-terrorist activities of the Cia in the Eu, or a concession on the symbolic theme of Guantanamo . […] But especially the summit revolves around Iran and Iraq. Both represent a single problem; to consider them separately is a European weakness, just as Guantanamo is Bush’s weak point. Vienna could at least mark an advancement for Iraq“. “Bush surprises by coming with an olive branch in his hand” is the title of the editorial on international policy published by the Italian Catholic daily, Avvenire (21/6). The paper discusses the possible closing down of the detention centre at Guantanamo. “Bush, at the start of his visit to Europe, a good half of which he does not love – writes Andrea Lavazza – plays the card most people had been hoping for. We want to close Guantanamo and repatriate many of the detainees” . The prison camp situated in the American enclave in Cuba, where some 400 presumed Islamic terrorists are being detained, in draconian conditions, has been the butt of the mounting criticism of public opinion and of many Us allies, led by Germany and Italy. “The head of the White House is not used to making easy concessions, but he knows that softening the tones of the Old Continent is a gain for everyone … The Euro-Atlantic alliance remains the fundamental axis, the compass for continental governments, which can then try to articulate their friendship (with the Usa) in a different way by finding convergences of interests and tackling common threats”.
