KEY POINTS:
Criticism mounted yesterday of the prisoner swap that freed Italian war correspondent Daniele Mastrogiacomo from imprisonment by the Taleban.
Five Taleban commanders were released from jail in Kabul on Monday in exchange for the Italian, who had been held for two weeks.
Maxime Verhagen, foreign minister of Holland which has 1800 troops fighting the Taleban in southern Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul, "When we create a situation where you can buy the freedom of Taleban fighters when you catch a journalist, in the short term there will be no journalists any more...The Dutch government will not give in to such situations, because otherwise you'll support the taking of hostages, and we don't want that."
Italy's commitment of troops to Afghanistan is unpopular with the Italian left, and Romano Prodi's government briefly collapsed last month after losing a vote on foreign policy.
Mr Mastrogiacomo, who arrived in Rome late on Tuesday night, 24 hours after his dramatic release, yesterday defended the way his freedom was obtained. "We have to show respect for human life, as a way to demonstrate the difference between us and them," he said.
"I'm no scoop merchant," he went on, "I always take a lot of care. I did nothing that other people haven't done. Channel Four was in the same place four days before." But he said the dangers of southern Afghanistan now ruled it out for reporters. "I don't think we can go to that place now," he said. "It can go well or it can go badly."
- INDEPENDENT
