Stop at Afghanistan, says Italy

Martino: No further action without proof

ROME, Italy -- Italy is hopeful that the U.S. will not spread its war against terrorism beyond Afghanistan, Italian Defence Minister Antonio Martino told a NATO conference.

"I am optimistic that there won't be another operation like the one in Afghanistan. The rogue states have learnt their lesson," Martino told Reuters.

U.S. President George W. Bush said last week that the U.S. war against terrorism may expand, and he singled out Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an "axis of evil."

Martino's comments came at a NATO-Russian convention on combatting terrorism attended by NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov.

Robertson said after the behind-doors talks that NATO-Russia cooperation is a "central pillar" of the global struggle against terror -- the first common enemy in 60 years.

He added, NATO and Russia must join forces to root out terrorist groups and even plan military attacks -- something unthinkable a few years ago.

"We can very clearly see a common threat, a common enemy for perhaps the first time in 60 years.

"Intensified NATO-Russia cooperation is a central pillar of the global struggle against terrorism."

The Italian minister told reporters that the strength of the Afghan operation lay in the fact that so many countries had backed it.

"The most important thing about the war is the determined show by an enormously large coalition," Martino said.

"It provided a very effective deterrent for other countries," he told a news conference at the Rome event, aimed at cementing an improved relationship between East and West since September 11 on combatting terrorism.

Martino said on Sunday that Italy would not support an extension of military action outside of Afghanistan unless there was proof that the country in question supported terrorism.

Russia has supported the U.S. war in Afghanistan but could find itself in a difficult position if Washington decides to expand its anti-terror campaign.

Moscow has strong ties to all three countries named by Bush as the "axis of evil."

At a multinational security conference in Munich on Sunday, Ivanov acknowledged that the three might pose a non-proliferation threat but said he had "no data or information that would suggest the governments of those three countries support terrorism."

The Russian defence minister also accused his allies of "double standards" in its failure to condemn Moscow's Chechen enemies as "terrorists" while vigorously pursuing Osama bin Laden.