ROME — President Bush visited one of his most rock-steady European supporters Thursday, but the old friendship didn’t yield all either leader wanted from the other, on Afghanistan for Bush or on Iran for Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.
One of Bush’s main priorities in Europe is asking his hosts to make greater contributions to Afghanistan — in both money and troops.
Berlusconi said during their news conference that he and Bush discussed Italy’s willingness to revise rules of engagement for its 2,000 troops participating in the NATO mission in Afghanistan. His government is taking steps to give Italian forces more flexibility that could mean temporary, rapid-response deployments to the dangerous front lines in Afghanistan’s east and south, instead of only in the relatively safer regions where they are now.
The Italians, however, appear to be lifting only some of the current restrictions on their forces and have begun the process but not finished it.
What Berlusconi wanted from Bush is the ability to join a small club of nations trying to negotiate an end to Iran’s suspected nuclear-weapons program. Italy has asked to be added to the group, which now includes the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China.
But key player Germany is opposed, and Bush gave no indication that he would choose Rome’s request over Berlin’s refusal. Though Bush said he’d “seriously consider” Italy’s interest, he urged Berlusconi to be involved anyway as a member of the European Union — a strong hint that the idea is going nowhere.
Today, Bush meets for the third time with Pope Benedict XVI on a stop at the Vatican. He then flies to Paris for a speech on the state of U.S.-Europe relations and meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
