Italy sees no quick pull-out of Afghan troops

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (Reuters) - Italy does not expect to be able to significantly reduce the number of troops it has stationed in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission for three to five years, a deputy minister said on Monday.

Italy, which has about 3,100 troops in Afghanistan, said the international force there would only be scaled back once the situation had stabilized enough to allow a withdrawal, something which was likely to be several years away.

"We know it is not reasonable to assume that most of the objectives we have can be reached before 3 years or 5 years," Guiseppe Cossiga, an Italian vice minister for defense, told Reuters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defense ministers.

"We would not expect a reduction in the presence of the coalition (before then) and hence we do not expect Italy to achieve any significant reduction."

However, Italy would consider keeping the reinforcement of around 500 troops it sent to boost security ahead of the Afghan elections earlier this year, he added.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi earlier this month said he planned a strong reduction in troop levels in Afghanistan, but his government has since confirmed that it has no plans to withdraw troops.

General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, submitted a request for more troops this month, but the Pentagon plans to hold it while President Barack Obama decides what strategy to pursue.

Cossiga said more troops were needed in Afghanistan, where the war has intensified in recent months as Taliban forces have stepped up attacks, but he sought to dampen expectations Italy could contribute more manpower.

"We are not willing today to say no -- we will consider any request -- but our resources and our capacity is already strained very much," he said.

More than 40 states have troops in the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, with Italy one of the largest European contributors. However enthusiasm for the mission has waned in many countries given mounting casualties and a lack of clear progress eight years after the international effort began.

(Reporting by Niklas Pollard; additional reporting by Deepa Babbington; editing by David Brunnstrom)