Afghanistan, what emerges from WikiLeaks on Italian and Taliban services
Giuseppe Gagliano's post
In a recent volume published by Chiarelettere entitled "WikiLeaks Dossier" written by journalist Stefania Maurizi on the revelations that emerged thanks to the work of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, the accusations that the United States made against Italy regarding the considerable and consistent bribes that were paid by our troops and by Italian Intelligence to the Taliban both for kidnappings and to avoid reprisals against our troops.
Let's go into detail.
We are in 2008 and "the French are suffering a devastating attack by the Taliban guerrillas, in the Sarobi district east of Kabul, an area they have recently taken control of and which until then was under the command of Italian troops ". But here's the shocking news that arrives in October 2009 from the Times reporter Tom Coghlan.
According to the newspaper, the French had underestimated the dangers of the district in which they had been ambushed because the Italian soldiers who had preceded them had not had major problems, and this had led them to think that the area was relatively safe. But behind the apparent tranquility, however, as reported by the newspaper, there was a dirty game: in order not to be attacked, the Italians paid bribes to the Taliban.
The very harsh reactions of both Berlusconi and the Minister of Defense who was Ignazio La Russa, who threatened several times – but without following up on this threat – repeatedly threaten to make complaints to the newspaper.
Despite the tough stances by the American embassy, the American ambassador Spogli meets Berlusconi. Well, during the interview, Spogli tells Berlusconi that American intelligence continues to receive disturbing reports that Italians are bribing local warlords. Berlusconi can only express his consent regarding the need for this illegal practice to be concluded as soon as possible. But words don't follow facts.
The following year – and we are exactly in February 2009 – the new ambassador writes to Washington that Italy has long been suspected of paying bribes both to obtain protection and to solve the kidnappings in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, the kidnappings, such as that of the journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, would almost certainly have been solved with a ransom.
Not only that: it would seem that the Italian secret services paid the insurgents in the Kabul region so as not to attack the Italian troops.
The gravity of this situation is such that even President Bush had urged Berlusconi to put an end to this incorrect policy. It is significant that Stefania Maurizi directly consulted the journalist Tom Coghlan of the Times . From this meeting Coghlan not only confirms the accusations formulated in his long article but also confirms that he has not received complaints from some illustrious exponent of Italian politics.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/afghanistan-cosa-emerge-da-wikileaks-su-servizi-italiani-e-talebani/ on Mon, 30 Aug 2021 08:04:47 +0000.