Unfortunately, the West committed suicide in Afghanistan. Marcello Pera speaks
Afghanistan? “Epochal disaster, it is the fall of another piece of the West that no longer believes in itself. And which is now more at risk of terrorism and dictators, with China's growing hegemony ”. Conversation of Paola Sacchi with Marcello Pera, philosopher and former president of the Senate
“Kabul, an epochal disaster, is the fall of another piece of the West that no longer believes in itself. And which is now more at risk of terrorism and dictators, with China's growing hegemony ”. On the secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta: "He really thinks it is a mistake that weapons have been used against Osama Bin
Liden? I wonder what he taught in Paris… ”.
Speaks exclusively for Startmagnews , across the board, Marcello Pera, philosopher, liberal, politician, formerly the second position of the state, when there was the second government of Silvio Berlusconi.
Professor Marcello Pera, former president of the Senate in office in the days of 11 September and the subsequent war in Afghanistan. How do you, a former second position of the Italian State received in the White House by Vice President Dick Cheney, "champion" of the "Neo-Con", assess the disaster in Kabul for that people and the West?
The disaster is epochal, much more than a military defeat. It is the fall of another piece of the West, which no longer believes in itself, which is ashamed of its own history, which erases it, which claims to be inclusive only because it has no identity.
Nothing seems to me more emblematic of this profound crisis than a tweet from the American embassy in Kabul shortly before the ignominious flight. He says: “This month of June is recognized as the month of LGBTI pride. The United States respects the dignity and equality of LGBTI people ”. Well, I respect them too. But here, where a state had to be built, politicians and generals no longer even have a scale of priorities and urgencies. We are like the fall of the Roman Empire and Byzantium.
Now in Italy we can even read doubts about that war, criticisms of Bush Junior, perhaps even legitimate on the fact that he then became more involved in Iraq, but in general it is striking that the very correctness of that mission is also questioned. Neo – With under attack, the leader of the Democratic Party Enrico Letta said that democracy cannot be exported with arms. What do you think?
I wonder what Letta taught in Paris. Do you really think it was a mistake to use weapons against Osama Bin Laden and who was protecting him?
As for democracy, it would be enough to reflect that ours, that of today, the anti-fascist one of the Constitution, we imported with the weapons of the Allies. The same in Germany, the same in Japan, the same many times in history. I can only say that, if we start to export democracy, then we have to do the job to the end. Westerners in Afghanistan didn't do it because they weren't prepared and didn't really believe it. It is no coincidence that our recent wars have always been called "humanitarian" and never with their proper names.
How do you evaluate this extreme attempt at mediation by the first elected President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai , known as "the American", whom you met?
I remember him as a reasonable person who certainly knows his country. I don't know if he will make it. A Resistance will have to arise and we should help it. Maybe Karzai should have been listened to better first. Perhaps he would have explained to us that the Afghans for a Western democracy were not prepared for lack of national culture.
Biden was heavily criticized for his retirement speech. They also accuse him of having the wrong time and time of year to bring the troops home. Was it necessary to stay there forever as Condoleezza Rice said?
Forever, I don't know. What is certain is that the withdrawal was done quickly and badly. It was an escape, already decided by Trump and well prepared by Obama.
Is the West now more at risk?
Not only is it at risk of terrorism, what worries me even more is that it is at risk of dictators who use refugees as a shield and China's growing hegemony. What are we going to do with Taiwan tomorrow?
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/disastro-afghanistan-occidente-intervista-marcello-pera/ on Fri, 20 Aug 2021 13:11:19 +0000.