The military flight leaves Kabul on 15 August. Procedures to protect 4,000 employees
The procedure was started last night with the destruction of classified documents. Yesterday afternoon the airlift was activated to bring the staff of the embassy in Kabul and fellow countrymen who want to return to Italy. Via the diplomatic staff and collaborators, but an attempt is also made to take the persons indicated by the Ministry of Defense out of Afghanistan who over the years have collaborated with our authorities, with the contingent and with l’intelligence and now they must be protected from Taliban revenge. For this reason it was decided that the issuing of visas for those who have already been authorized will take place directly in Rome.
The diplomats
A note from the Farnesina announces that “in light of the deterioration of security conditions in Afghanistan, procedures have been initiated to arrange the return to Italy of the staff of the Italian embassy in Kabul”. It was decided to leave «a garrison of the Italian embassy at the Kabul airport, where most of the other embassies in Afghanistan are moving. To the 50 employees of the Farnesina who have so far kept the Italian representation led by Ambassador Vittorio Sandalli open, there are about 30 collaborators and their families. But also the Tuscania carabinieri who took care of the security of the headquarters.
The mail to the Italians
The situation is out of control, which is why the Foreign Ministry has decided to appeal to all Italians in Afghanistan. He did so with an email sent by the Crisis Unit: “Following the invitations made to leave the country, we inform you that, given the serious deterioration in security conditions, an Air Force flight is made available to Italian citizens tomorrow 15 August (today, ed) at approximately 9.30pm from Kabul Airport. We formulate an invitation to leave the country by this means. We invite you to immediately notify us of your adhesion. We will closely contact you once you have notified us of your adhesion in order to connect to the airport ».
The 4,000 employees
Defense collaborators have already returned to Italy 238 Afghans. Another 390 are in Herat and a way is being sought to transfer them to Kabul. The number of those who in different ways and at different times has given support to the contingent – including family members – is close to 4,000 people. “We will not leave the Afghans alone,” promised the head of the Farnesina Luigi Di Maio. For this the military authorities and the representatives of theintelligence have started a reconnaissance with all the names without excluding the possibility of carrying out the transfer also passing through other States in order to guarantee their safety. It is the “Aquila” operation which includes several phases of intervention and aims to protect those who, only for having worked in contact with Western military contingents, could suffer the retaliation of the Taliban.
The evacuation
Already in recent days there’intelligence Italian had sent an alert highlighting how numerous countries had decided to reduce or demobilize diplomatic representations: “The United States announced its intention to redeploy its headquarters at the military facility of Hamid Karzai International Airport, as well as the United Kingdom and Turkey. Japan, Germany and Canada are preparing to close, while Denmark and Norway have announced a “temporary” closure. The abandonment of offices by the United States and the United Kingdom will weaken security in the “green zone”, where the Italian embassy is also insisting ». The last warning before the final retreat.
August 15, 2021 (change August 15, 2021 | 07:15)
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