The former Italian ambassador to Kabul: “Taliban advance? Everything seemed ready”

Beyond the emotions and pain for what is happening in Afghanistan, what is most striking is the silence of the countries of the region and the warlords, as if the developments of the last few hours were already ready for some time, that there is it has been some form of “political preparation”, and that the Taliban has only accelerated what has already been foreseen. It is the interpretation of the fall of Kabul and the reconquest of Afghanistan by Islamic militants that the former Italian ambassador Domenico Giorgi gives, who at the beginning of 2002, a few weeks after the start of the military intervention in Afghanistan, reopened our headquarters, which had been closed for a decade after the outbreak of the civil war. “I feel emotion and pain for what is happening, because Afghanistan was a very important moment in my professional and personal life – says Giorgi to Adnkronos – But beyond these feelings and analyzes often imbued with emotion rather than clarity the first thing to note is that, apart from the Americans and Russians, all the other countries, including China, are silent and do not give evaluations. fully involved and sometimes interfered in Afghan life “. And the same silence, observes the former ambassador in Kabul and then in Tokyo, now retired,” can be seen in the warlords, historical enemies of the Taliban, who in these 20 years have had key positions, I am thinking of the ‘lion of Herat’ Ismail Khan and the Uzbek Rashid Dostum, the Tajik Abdullah Abdullah and the Hazara “, who, as Shiites, are even more objective than the Sunni Pashtun militants. this silence? “Either they all maintain a wait-and-see position or – Giorgi’s reading of it – in recent months they had established a very dense network of contacts with the Taliban so now they want to see how they behave, while the Taliban have simply accelerated a seizure of power which was widely expected “. It could also be explained in this way, says the ambassador, “because not only the army has melted, but also the militias of the warlords, who have not reacted”. It is as if, he notes, there had been “political preparation” and this will be understood when the Taliban will form the government, “if they will do it alone or will also open it to other ethnic components”, verifying among other things whether “the conciliatory messages they are sending, the commitments they are announcing will not be just verbal “. The former ambassador then highlights what he said were some of the mistakes of the West: much has been spent on the reconstruction of the state, too much has been talked about exporting democracy on the basis of a model that is difficult to apply to Afghanistan, and too little has been invested in the development of the country. “The West can blame itself – says Giorgi – What went wrong in the reconstruction of the Afghan state for which 20 years of effort and resources have been dedicated and which has apparently collapsed? Perhaps there was talk of exporting democracy , has looked at the reconstruction on the basis of the model of a democratic state and of the rule of law according to the principles of ideal democracy, not attaching sufficient attention and understanding to real democracy. There has been some difficulty in understanding the logic of the Afghan system ” . The former ambassador thinks of “sensitive issues” such as the different ethnic groups that make up the country, the role of the armed forces, justice and education, the role of women. “The West – he continues – has spent a lot, but it has invested little in the economic development of Afghanistan, it has given absolute priority to the reconstruction of the state, of the armed and security forces, forgetting that in a democracy one must also give prospects for economic development “. “My impression – continues Giorgi – is that the country, which at the beginning of the 2000s had the lowest per capita income in the world after that of Somalia, has not enjoyed serious economic development”. ‘ambassador, “he made many efforts in many areas, we made a contribution to the reconstruction of the school and health, the NGOs involved were many, we cannot blame ourselves too much”. Giorgi’s hope is that, in the face of the scenes of desperation of these days, “the Afghans will be helped by ensuring their welcome” in the West. And above all “I hope that initiatives will be born, starting with our country, not only to help, but to follow up on everyone what has been tried to do in particular in favor of women and children”.