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→Foreign Relations
Italy, under NATO's ISAF, maintains a Provincial Reconstruction Team in the western [[Afghanistan]] province of Herat, commands RC-West, and maintains a Carabinieri police training center. Italy supports reconstruction and development assistance to the Iraqi people through humanitarian workers and other officials, particularly in Dhi Qar Province, and is a leading contributor to the NATO Training Mission-Iraq, with approximately 100 military personnel and Carabinieri police trainers. Currently almost 9,000 Italian troops are deployed, including 2,100 in Kosovo, 2,350 in Lebanon as part of UNIFIL, and over 2,600 in Afghanistan. It will send another 1000 troops for the surge in [[Afghanistan War|Afghanistan]] in 2010.
Italy, under NATO's ISAF, maintains a Provincial Reconstruction Team in the western [[Afghanistan]] province of Herat, commands RC-West, and maintains a Carabinieri police training center. Italy supports reconstruction and development assistance to the Iraqi people through humanitarian workers and other officials, particularly in Dhi Qar Province, and is a leading contributor to the NATO Training Mission-Iraq, with approximately 100 military personnel and Carabinieri police trainers. Currently almost 9,000 Italian troops are deployed, including 2,100 in Kosovo, 2,350 in Lebanon as part of UNIFIL, and over 2,600 in Afghanistan. It will send another 1000 troops for the surge in [[Afghanistan War|Afghanistan]] in 2010.
=== Armed forces ===
The Italian Constitution explicitly repudiates war as a mean to solve international conflicts<ref>http://www.governo.it/Governo/Costituzione/principi.html</ref> but still affirms that the defence of the fatherland is a citizen's "sacred duty" and that, when required by the law, military service is mandatory. <ref>http://www.governo.it/Governo/Costituzione/1_titolo4.html</ref> Therefore, the Italian Republic maintains four armed forces:
* The Italian Army, ''Esercito Italiano'', is the ground branch and numbers above 108,000 troops. Its most famous equipment include the C-1 ''Ariete'' main battle tank, the ''Centauro'' wheeled armored car, the AR-70/90 assault rifle and the Beretta M9 pistol, which is also used by the United States armed forces. Among the corps which make up the Army, it's worthy to remember: the ''Alpini'' (mountain troops), the ''Bersaglieri'' (light infantry) and the ''Lagunari'' (marines).
* The Italian Navy, ''Marina Militare'', is the sea branch and counts 31,000 sailors and 70 warships, among them: the ''Cavour'' and ''Garibaldi'' aircraft carriers, the ''Horizon'' destroyers and the ''Amerigo Vespucci'' school sailship for naval cadets. The Com.Sub.In. (Underwater Incursion Command) are the Italian Navy SEALs, extremely well trained and with a long history of daring victories.
* The Italian Air Force, ''Aeronautica Militare'', is the air branch and musters 42,960 airmen and officers and 665 planes and helicopters. Its acrobatic patrol is highly famed and is known as the ''Tricolor Arrows'.
* The Carabinieri Corps, ''Arma dei Carabinieri'' is the national gendarmery force, 120,000-strong. Formerly part of the Army, the Carabinieri act both as a civilian police force and a military one. They mantain some combat-ready light infantry units, the "Hunters" regiments.
The Italian armed forces relied upon conscription for almost a hundred and fifty years, but mandatory service was abolished in 2005, moving them to a professionist, volunteer model.
==Economy==
==Economy==