Dear President Draghi, we appeal to you who are a serious and pragmatic person on behalf of all our former collaborators in Afghanistan who risk being left behind, not being brought to safety in Italy, despite the promises. And to end up in the clutches of the Taliban, which are advancing across the country. If even just one of the Afghans, who have been shoulder to shoulder with our soldiers for twenty years, something happened, Italy would deserve the medal of shame and dishonor. The newspaper he has been champion of this just cause for months, an almost isolated voice in the media landscape apart from a few rare exceptions. After the fall of Herat in the last few hours, dozens of performers have been cut off and seized by desperation. Many have burst into tears in front of wives and children, who realize how the head of the family can be beheaded by the Taliban at any time as a “collaborator” of Westerners and therefore “infidel”. In these hours, the whatsapp messages we receive from those who have also been injured by our side are of this tenor: “You have betrayed us, forgotten, left unjustly behind”.
The first major mistake of the Defense and military leaders, who in some cases have never heard a bullet whistle near the head, was to predict much of the evacuation after the withdrawal of the contingent. When the Tricolore was lowered in Herat we managed to bring it to safety in Italy with theAquila operation 1 just 228 Afghans, the first collaborators with their families. And sometimes we have received them in accommodation by series Z migrants. At least they are safe, but another 389 Afghans are expected to be evacuated in August. From today, it is assured, the issuance of visas will begin and if the airport of Accept will not close due to the Taliban advance should they embark on commercial flights. Even the last of the common soldiers knows that an evacuation is done safely when you still have troops on the ground and not after. Otherwise we risk the chaos of these days with the unstoppable Taliban advance.
Bureaucratic slowness and checks, blameworthiness between the ministries involved (Defense, Foreign Affairs, Interior), the difficulty of Afghans in finding documents, starting with the passport, have left dozens of collaborators in limbo. Operation Aquila 2 with the expected 81 families (389 people) will perhaps go through if the Taliban do not arrive first in Kabul, but many are still out. Another 300 requests have arrived at the embassy, many will be phony, but others not, starting with over 50 interpreters largely left out in Herat. These wretches are only asking to know whether or not they have been accepted into the bailout. Then they are ready to risk their lives by reaching Kabul by land with the families, but with the certainty that they will have one humanitarian visa for Italy. From the defense and the embassy they get no answers.
The military estimates in early July indicated a maximum, including those already in our country, of 1,200-1,500 people to be evacuated, along with family members. Now we are talking about 2 thousand. Many will not have the right and can be removed, but even if these are the numbers, is it an insurmountable problem after 20 years of mission? 1,920 migrants landed on our shores in just three days, from 23 to 25 July, without documents and without the slightest idea who they really are, unlike the Afghans. We always welcome them. Can’t we quickly do the same with the Afghans, who really run away from bullets, deepening the controls later in Italy? There is no more time.
The British and the Americans send troops to Kabul to evacuate their Afghan citizens and collaborators, but we send a maximum of three support troops to the embassy for the paperwork. The Minister of Defense, Lorenzo Guerini, he has repeatedly promised that no one will be left behind. This is not the case and the fall of Herat proves it. We are not Italy, but a great country, where the newspaper invites all the media to fight to save the collaborators of our contingents and of the Italian NGOs in Afghanistan. And first of all it is you, President, with your ministers directly involved, who must avoid our country the medal of shame and dishonor.
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