Afghanistan, the first commander gen. Battisti: “Will institutions now be able to face the Taliban?”

“I arrived in Kabul, disembarking at Bagram airport, on 30 December 2001. I was among the first to arrive together with the Italian ambassador, the first Italian commander to arrive in Afghanistan. There were few of us and the situation was truly dramatic. after 20 years of wars and after the last 6 years of the terrible Taliban regime “. Thus at the Adnkronos the first Italian contingent commander in Afghanistan, General Giorgio Battisti, comments on the conclusion of the Italian mission in Afghanistan, after 20 years. “Observing it from above – he says – from the hills, there was not a single light on, impressive in Kabul. In these 20 years the situation has evolved, Afghanistan has been reintroduced into the international community, little by little. has resumed, schools have reopened, health care has improved, but above all, women and girls have been removed from the darkness. For me this is the most important thing, virtually invisible people who have regained their dignity. that today in the Afghan parliament there is a strong female presence. Beyond the urban part, which represents 25% and where the situation is certainly better, a form of mistrust remains in the valleys, in the extra-urban areas. changes completely in 20 years, people are rooted in their own land, tied to their religious confessions, Sunni and Shiite, tribal and family ties. Young people have only known war “.” The withdrawal? Too sudden and I think that q his can create some problems – he adds – I believe that the Afghan institutions are not ready to face the post withdrawal alone, even if all the governments involved with the armed forces, including the US and Italy itself, have ensured that they will follow from the outside and the situation closely, continuing to support Afghanistan. The most difficult thing will be this, the Taliban are convinced that they have won because we are withdrawing. It has been a very long and heavy commitment for the whole international community, which has caused a certain tiredness among the various governments. In my humble opinion it is also a bit of the fault of the international community – not to be confused with the military side that follows directives – which has created almost a form of subsistence society in which the Afghan population was waiting to be supported. Perhaps we had to study the local society and its culture better and try to empower it more. In some cases we have succeeded, in others a little less. Sometimes in the Western presumption of being better than others, our sociocultural models have been imposed on other completely different cultures. Perhaps it was not meant to be imposed, but to shape Afghan society. An assessment of all these years is therefore in chiaroscuro. The problem now is to see if the institutions will be able to face the Taliban and the ISIS forces that could take advantage of this situation “, concludes Battisti.