During the last world war, the Italian state abandoned thousands of ascari (Eritrean fighters) who had faithfully served in the Royal Army during the campaign in East Africa. After the war, numerous war pensions were given to pseudo partisans while the askaris, who fought on our side against the British, were condemned to damnatio memoriae of the past fascist regime.
Now history seems to repeat itself with what is happening in Afghanistan with local interpreters, used for years by the Italian contingents.
In an official note from Senators Rauti, De Carlo, Petrenga, Ciriani to the Foreign and Defense Ministries, it is highlighted that the fact that, despite the approval of the funding for the mission in Afghanistan "Resolute Support" - to which, for 2020 , Italy participates with 800 units of military personnel, 145 land vehicles and 8 air vehicles, similarly to what was already foreseen in 2019 -, the interpreters of Afghan nationality, employed in support of the Italian activity in the mission, would have received the letters of termination of employment, without the provision, however, of any type of measure to guarantee their own safety and that of their respective family members.
Some interpreters, as it turns out, have already received retaliation for their collaboration with Western forces, even by being killed and, this problem is already known to the Italian government.
In particular, the government specified that "the national contingent is mainly deployed in the Herat area ... guarantees the functionality of Herat airport ... supports the Afghan Security Institutions (ASI) and the Afghan National Defense Security Forces (ANDSF)": this is because the mission in question, which took over from 1 January 2015, the ISAF mission, which ended on 31 December 2014, aims to carry out training, consultancy and assistance activities in favor of the Afghan defense and security forces and government institutions and reflects NATO's commitments at the Lisbon (2010), Chicago (2012) and Newport in Wales (2014) summits.
This commitment was also supported by the United Nations Security Council, which with resolution no. 2189 of 12 December 2014 underlined the importance of the continuous international commitment for the stabilization of Afghanistan and the further improvement of the functionality and capacity of the Afghan defense and security forces, in order to allow them to maintain, in autonomy, the security and stability across the country.
The point is that NATO's disengagement from Afghanistan is now imminent. After twenty years of presence, the West has failed to defeat the jihadist militias, at the service of the various warlords, nor to build a true democratic alternative to an institutional structure that still remains tribal.
As NATO contingents withdraw, the Taliban will begin to regain the lost territories, thanks also to the endemic corruption present in the Kabul regime. Who has been in collusion with Westerners he will probably be executed together with his family.
In Italy, every year, thousands of illegal immigrants arrive, many of whom are asylum seekers for political reasons (of which very few with the appropriate requirements). The government should ask itself if it is not appropriate to welcome the Afghans who have collaborated with our contingents (together with their families), thus saving them from the revenge of the Taliban.
Photo: ISAF / ministry of defense
