Italians bribed the Taleban all over Afghanistan

A Taleban commander and two senior Afghan officials confirmed yesterday that Italian forces paid protection money to prevent attacks on their troops.

After furious denials in Rome of a Times report that the Italian authorities had paid the bribes, the Afghans gave further details of the practice. Mohammed Ishmayel, a Taleban commander, said that a deal was struck last year so that Italian forces in the Salobi area, east of Kabul, were not attacked by local insurgents.

The US Embassy in Rome declined to confirm or to deny the report that US officials issued a démarche, an official complaint, to the Italian Government over alleged payments to insurgents in June 2008.

i would pay people to not attack me

if i had the money, and they were crazy

which seems the case there

I'd probably do the same. What makes me laugh is as a schoolboy in England one of our favourite jokes was: What's the smallest book in the world? ANSWER. The book of Italian war heroes. OK, we weren't that funny.

The Italian being very strategic.

"Let's hire the only people crazier than us to protect us"

Good point unicronic.

Speaking of heroes, have you seen this from a TanglerLive topic today on Japanese TV. Anyway in case you haven't I'll put it up here. Worth watching ..

i love the face LOL!

Agree! I did write though .... "Brilliant. Wish I could understand the dialogue. Kind of embarrassing for him that he didn't even check to see if any were alive and in need of his help. That said. What if he had a heart attack?"

he is probably going to develop PTSD now

and sue them

He would were it not for the fact that he lives in Japan. They seem to do these kind of torture things all the time and no one sues.

Yup Japanese gameshows would scare the UK & US and give the psychiatry industry a big business boost

It's not like their society is more violent, in fact the opposite. Much less crime in Tokyo than on the streets on London. They do have a twisted sense of humour though.

G'day there! Just heard about this sh@t downtown. Someone bought me a lot of bears & GT's and rambled on about the French getting shot by the Taleban. Big Deal?

How may GTs did you have Vidd before you realised you were drinking bears?

If the Italians use the old mafia protection money thing, and then pull out, why shouldn't the Taleban consider themselves free from the bargain and free to shoot at the French? Come on, it's a warzone, after all!

A bear or two never hurt a cowboy..

I don't blame the Taleban for once. Seems like not a bad deal at all from their perspective. It is though to my mind, a typically Italian way to handle a war.

They make great icecream.

maybe that was the taliban plan from the get-go

Great ice cream. Great women. Great food. Not bad wine. Best parties. Lots to love about Italy.

We also shouldn't forget that the Taliban are basically another problem caused by the West. Go in train them, arm them, fund them and then leave them to rot when they become expendable.

And let's not forget a 70 year old prime minister who to date seems to get away with sleeping with 22 year old models.

is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I think the US should simply sack the Taleban. Just stop paying them for resisting the NATO forces. Then the war would be over in a couple of hours. (And everyone could have ICE CREAM, ja!)

For the models ... awful. From Silvio Berlusconi's point of view ....

I vote Vidd for next Sec Gen of the UN.

The US won't sack the Taleban as it's a major reason to justifiy squandering resources on military resources and to keep handing out construction deals to their friends

We could have a whole series of topics on those questionable constructions deals and those private armies!

indeed. It's common conspiracy theory that JFK's assassination was to put the US in the Vietnam conflict in full force. If you dig around you can find info that relates to the lucrativity of military contracts and the money that wouldn't have been made unless JFK was removed.

Well, as the next Secretary General of the UN, I would certainly let the Afghan growers keep some more of the money from their poppy crops. Seems unfair that the CIA & Mossad should have it all.

I know these views aren't popular, but then I've never courted popularity (Python quote).

Germany's main European based ally in WWII? Italy. The Mafia controllled much of Italian life even well into the 1990s. The Italian-American Mafia were still well active in the 1980s and in the 1970s were so dangerious they destabilised multiple cities in the U.S. with high level corruption from police chiefs to politicians. Italy's current democratically elected Prime Minister Berlusconi is himself as dodgy as a "nine" pound note, personally owns AC Milan football club (the richest & biggest club in Italy) and he owns key news channels/newspapers. He is also considered a "national hero" by many in the Italian older generation.

Politically Italy are a joke. Economically they are well past their best... still currently "officially G7" even though China passed them already years ago. China is not yet in G7.

However, lifestyle wise... Italy is my favourite country in the whole of Europe and I agree with Alex the women are stunning... and good fun.

Summary: best not to analyse Italy too much on the political side as it's just the way they are. Love Italy for what it is... a truly beautiful country.

Q:  Did you hear about the new Italian tank?   A:  It has one forward gear and ten reverse ones.

Q:  What does the Italian battle flag look like?  A:  A white cross on a white background.

Q:  Why does the new Italian Navy use glass bottomed boats?  A:  So they can steer clear of the old Italian Navy.

Q:  Did you hear about the sale of Italian rifles?   A:  Never been used,  only dropped once.

Funny thread. Hey online world... any Italians out there to voice an opinion? Would be interested to hear what an Italian has to say on this chat.