Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini arrived in Herat Tuesday to oversee the hauling down of the Italian flag marking the upcoming end to Italy's almost 20-year mission in Afghanistan.
In step with the United States, which is pulling out of the Asian nation by mid-July, ahead of the initial symbolic date of September 11 announced by President Joe Biden, Italy is set to leave its Herat mission at Camp Arena to local troops.
The repatriation of the 800 or so soldiers and military materiel will be concluded shortly, Italian defence sources said.
Guerini said: "We don't want Afghanistan to return to being a safe haven for terrorists. We want to continue to reinforce this country also by giving continuity to the training of the Afghan security forces so as to not squander the results achieved in these 20 years".
Guerini added that hundreds of Afghans who collaborated with the Italian troops will be flown to Italy starting in mid-June, to save them from reprisals by the Taleban. "We won't abandon the Afghan civilian personnel that collaborated with our contingent in Herat, nor their families," he said, adding that 270 had already been identified and another 400 were set to follow.
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