Italy says plans to make Afghan force more flexible

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italy said on Monday it planned to improve the ability of its 2,400-strong contingent in Afghanistan to react rapidly to outbreaks of fighting, including redistributing some of its troops there.

Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters at an EU meeting in Brussels that Italy would also reduce the size of its contingent by 250 to 300.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini later insisted the cut would be in the Italian presence in the capital Kabul, not in its main contingent in the west, and stressed that the aim was not to lower the overall size of the Italian force.

"We are not talking about the number of troops ... We are talking about deploying them in a more flexible way," he told reporters at the same meeting.

Frattini said Italy planned to improve its contingent's ability to react quickly to requests from NATO to operate outside its main base in west Afghanistan, but did not plan to move its troops anywhere else permanently.

He said Italy would streamline its procedures so that it could respond to a NATO request for help elsewhere in Afghanistan within six hours compared with 72 hours at present.

Italian officials said recently that Rome wanted to make its force in Afghanistan more flexible, prompting speculation it would be ready to help fight Taliban insurgents in the south.

A NATO official said Frattini presented the Italian plans to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer during their talks in Brussels.

"Our understanding is that this is a reconfiguration rather than a reduction," the official said.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; writing by Mark John; editing by Tim Pearce)