Posted on 03/23/2004 6:44:10 PM PST by Mark Felton
MADRID, March 23 — Spain's prime minister-elect, who has pledged to pull troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations assumes supervision of the occupation force there, is considering increasing the number of Spanish peacekeepers in Afghanistan, officials in his Socialist Party said Tuesday.
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Less than two weeks after the deadly train bombings in Madrid, Prime Minister-elect José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero wants to signal his commitment to fight terrorism and show the United States that Spain remains a loyal ally, said one senior party official.
The new government wants "to send a message that the Socialists do not believe in appeasement," the official added.
Since Mr. Zapatero's surprise victory on March 14, he has faced two tasks: responding to overwhelming opposition to the American-led war in Iraq among his supporters and maintaining good relations with the Bush administration.
Mr. Zapatero has confirmed a campaign pledge to pull Spain's 1,300 troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations assumes greater control by June 30.
Critics, notably in the United States, have accused Mr. Zapatero of handing a victory to terrorists.
A decision to beef up Spain's military presence in Afghanistan may help the new Socialist government find acceptance at home and abroad, said José Miguel de Elías, director of the polling agency Sigma Dos. "It's a very interesting proposal, because it offers an international compromise while responding to a demand by the people to fight terrorism," he said.
There was no reaction from the United States Embassy here on Tuesday night.
As Mr. Zapatero continued planning for a new government, the police on Tuesday revised the death toll from the March 11 train bombings to 190, down from the previous estimate of 202, after DNA analysis showed that difficulties in identifying body parts had distorted the count.
Mr. Elías said Spaniards, hardened by years of regional terrorism from Basque separatists but unaccustomed to the scale of carnage on March 11, expected any government to show a firm resolve against terror. But close to 90 percent of the population opposed the military campaign in Iraq last year, which was backed by Prime Minister José María Aznar and may have played a role in his party's defeat. A major reason for the war's unpopularity was its perceived lack of international legitimacy
By contrast, the international force in Afghanistan has the blessing of the United Nations and operates under NATO command, so increasing Spain's 125-member contingent in Afghanistan would be a far easier sell than an increase for Iraq, Mr. Elías said.
Mr. Zapatero's government also hopes that concentrating Spanish soldiers in an area still suspected of harboring important members of Al Qaeda would be more acceptable to voters, not least because of investigators' suspicion of a Qaeda link to the March 11 train bombings.
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