Rome: “The Italian soldiers who fell in Afghanistan have the same value as the Italians who lost their lives in the fight against terrorism”, said Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi yesterday, 29 March 2012. In Afghanistan, this country assailed by the Taliban, our contingent still includes 4,200 people in uniform. Last week’s deaths brought the number of victims since 2002 to 50. In an interview with Corriere, for over an hour the ambassador who in November 2011 took over as foreign minister answered questions being posed by many. What are our soldiers doing? Does it make any sense to keep them in Afghanistan?
On Wednesday (28 March) the Italian military fought back an attack on a convoy of Afghan forces. Command West of the International security assistance force (Isaf) reported that the rebels suffered “significant” losses. What does that mean? How many were killed?
“The briefing I received concerns a successful operation in a framework of deterrence actions – rather frequent, I should say – by our forces in the area assigned to them. I don’t have the details. What I can say is…”
Is?
“…is that in the western region of Afghanistan, the zone entrusted to us, the transition to the transfer of responsibility to the Afghan authorities is nearly complete. In the coming months just a small part of the region will remain excluded. We’ve been doing excellent work, to judge by the unanimous evaluation, not just by ourselves but also by the United States Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, whom I met on Wednesday. We have plans to build roads, we’ve submitted a plan to President Hamid Karzai for the airport in Herat…”
But since 2002 we’ve seen 50 Italian military deaths in Afghanistan, of which 18 through accidents and illness and the others killed in action. After the Soviet invasion in 1979, a weekly news magazine ran the headline: “Dying for Kabul?”. The question arises anew: most of the foreign contingents will be leaving by the end of 2014. And last Saturday [24 March] Italy lost Sergeant Michele Silvestri to mortar fire. Does it make sense, in 2012, to die for Kabul?
“Fifty Italian deaths is a tragic circumstance. The value of these people, who sacrifice their lives with a true sense of the State is just as great as the value of those who fought terrorism in our country. Our soldiers are fighting terrorism in an important place. Afghanistan can become a factor for stability in the Indian sub-continent, rather than the opposite. Imagine what would happen if it again became a failed state [as it was when it served as Osama bin Laden’s base prior to 11 September 2011, ed.’s Note] or if Pakistan were to suffer that fate. Our security is at stake too”.
Without denying the need to act as allies of the United States, you can’t help but wonder: how can we achieve consensus among the Afghans if the American forces include soldiers who have burnt the Koran, another who killed 16 people in a moment of madness, a group who desecrated Taliban corpses, and others who led the 2011 bombing raid in which 24 Pakistani servicemen died – on the Pakistani side of the border. Is that not a problem for an ally such as Italy?
“These are problems that affect all countries with men and women in Afghanistan. In any case, we can only feel the utmost repulsion for those signs of contempt and those insults to the faith of persons who represent the opponent, the enemy. These events should lead us to devote even more attention to training our personnel”.
But aren’t they still serious incidents?
“We are moving on these situations. But they require a further effort that we could have done without. We need to constantly improve our training provision, and I believe that has been done. The UN has sought to prevent the sort of abuses that in the past, unfortunately, has stained its presence in certain nations”.
In his comments on certain US failures in the run-up to the withdrawal in 2014, the leader of the Democratic majority in the American Senate, Harry Reid, said, “I think we’re on the right track to get out of Afghanistan just as soon as we can”. France has brought 200 soldiers home, leaving 3200 in the country. We still have about 4200. Why should we be in less of a hurry?
“We are not in any more or any less of a hurry than our allies. Grossman pointed out to me that if the conditions are right then assessments will be carried out and changes made. But nothing leads me to believe that there will be operational reasons or political decisions that would change this course of action. Throughout 2013 we’ll be transferring responsibility to the Afghan forces”.
Karzai has declared that NATO should stay in its bases and that his forces are already handling security. What game is he playing? Is it propaganda to help him stay on as president after 2014?
“No, it’s also his rightful disquiet over the incidents you mentioned earlier. Which should not happen and which demand a reaction”.
The Italians won’t be coming home until the end of 2012. Is that the case?
“We don’t have a timetable yet. Our aim is to bring most of our contingent home by the end of 2014”.
While Italy and the other countries are training them, the number of incidents involving Afghan security forces firing on foreigners seems to be growing.
“As integration between foreign and Afghan forces increases, so too does the risk of infiltration. These incidents are a cause for concern but are not so extensive as to require a change of strategy. That’s not my evaluation, it’s the ISAF’s”.
