Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio is attending a NATO emergency summit in Brussels on Wednesday ahead of US president Joe Biden's expected announcement that US troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by 11 September. Besides the Afghan peace process, the summit will also focus on the escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine.
Di Maio was due to take part with US secretary of state Antony Blinken in a meeting of NATO Framework Nations in Afghanistan, where Italy has 895 peacekeeping troops - the biggest contingent after the US and Germany.
Most, if not all, Nato allies are likely to withdraw from Afghanistan in coordination with the US troops. There are currently about 2,500 US soldiers in the war-ravaged country, serving alongside 7,000 other foreign troops as part of a US-led NATO coalition.
Wednesday's NATO summit will also centre on the volatile situation in eastern Ukraine, amid the largest buildup of Russian forces on its borders since the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine has estimated that over 80,000 Russian troops have massed, sparking fears of an invasion.
Satellite photos are reported to have shown Russian armour and short-range ballistic missiles being moved within 150 miles of the border with Ukraine.
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