The forgotten of Kabul

Last September 8 (a bad day for Italy remembering in the year 1943) we wrote that the shameful and chaotic retreat of Western forces from Kabul, which seemed to be an inglorious retreat, was causing, as was predictable even to the uninitiated, real human dramas.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of Afghans and soldiers who had collaborated with our troops in the country over the last twenty years were cut off by the evacuation carried out in forced stages and under blackmail by the Taliban.
Clearly more than something went wrong.   The italian military high command, in the chaos of the moment, had assured that was  considering alternative routes to get those people out of the hell of Kabul.
Today Oct. 24, 2021, many of those left behind are still in Afghaninstan forced into hiding to avoid capture by Sirajuddin Haqqani’s cutthroats. Evidently, politics has so far been unable to agree (impose?) with the Taliban an escape route to ensure that who were been left behind, a chance to get out of hell.
Among these hundreds of people a senior Afghan office is still in Afghanistan with his family forced to constantly change places to avoid falling into the hands of the Taliban.
Five people, on the boarding list and summoned at 4 a.m. on the day they were scheduled to board, were left stranded due to the chaos generated by the ISI bombings at the airport.
We have brought thousands of people to Italy, too many to be considered all “collaborators” of our troops and civilians of the institution. We have also embarked on our planes the carpet sellers of “Camp Arena”, but still today we are not able to bring to safety a high Afghan officer and his family.
Our soldiers had done everything possible, indeed certainly more than possible, but the cowardly international policy, supine to Taliban blackmail, did not allow them to save everyone without leaving anyone behind.
It is a shame and a disgrace for our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. If anything should really happen to them, the responsibility, not only political responsability, would be all of the Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio and his ministry.
Michele Santoro