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Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office rejected the Taliban report after returning from his one day visit to Bulgaria on Thursday. Photo by BGNES
Italy has angrily denied a UK newspaper report that it paid Taliban fighters in Afghanistan to keep the peace.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's office rejected the report after returning from his one day visit to Bulgaria on Thursday, the BBC reported.
"The Berlusconi government has never authorised or allowed any form of payment of sums of money in favour of members of the insurgent Taliban in Afghanistan, and is not aware of similar initiatives by the previous government," Berlusconi’s office said in a statement.
Italy's defence minister said his country was planning to sue the Times newspaper over the claims.
French forces took over the area unaware of the policy, leaving them unaware of the risks, the paper says. Ten soldiers were killed within weeks.
In France, opposition socialists demanded the defence minister should answer questions on the claims.
The Times' report, quoting Western military officials, says the policy was operated by Italian secret services in Afghanistan's Sarobi area, east of Kabul.
Warlords as well as Taliban commanders were paid, the paper says, with the amounts running to tens of thousands of dollars.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities say the death toll from a reported Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul has climbed to around 400, with approximately 250 others injured.
Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have spiralled into one of the most serious escalations in recent years, with both sides reporting heavy casualties, cross-border strikes and the collapse of fragile ceasefire efforts.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office announced on Wednesday that a temporary ceasefire has been agreed with Afghanistan for the next 48 hours, following several days of intense cross-border clashes
The Taliban have introduced a new rule restricting Afghan women from hearing each other's voices, an additional step toward erasing women's presence in public life
Russia announced its efforts to remove the Taliban from its list of banned terrorist organizations
In a chilling display of authority, the Taliban carried out a double public execution at a stadium in southeastern Afghanistan, shocking thousands of spectators who witnessed the killing of two convicted individuals
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