This is the question that was posed in parliament following the latest deaths of Italian soldiers in Afghanistan. An though since 2003 it's been called a “peacekeeping mission”; in reality the mission was always under military command, in particular under NATO command, and the logic with which it was carried out was always the logic of war; and we are seeing the effects of it. |  |
| Drawing by a 12 year old Afghan |
One very significant piece of information is how the Italian involvement has grown over the years in terms of men and monex: from the contingent of 1000 soldiers in 2003 we arrived at 3900 in 2010, and 4500 are planned for 2011, while the costs have gone from 100 million Euro in l 2003 to 675 million Euro in 2010. Between 2003 and the present day, 90,000 men have served in the theatre of operations and tours of duty have gone from four to six moths. Since the start of the mission, the total cost has been 3 billion 100 million Euro.
To get an idea of what would happen if we reversed the logic, as the coordinator of the Italian Disarmament Network writes, “Military spending is a disadvantage... disarment and peace are not only right for thouse who believe in them, but also sensible: in ten years global military spending has grown by 50%, from 1000 to 1500 billion, but employment in the arms industry has decreased", while the same money invested in society would bring “a doubling of jobs and growth 1.5 times the average economic growth”.
In addition to the exorbitant costs, we know that the information that we are given hides the reality of what is happening, and those like Emergency, who expose the truth, are subject to censure, criticisms, and attacks. Now, documents are emerging - kept secret until now - about the tens of thousands of civilian victims and about the responsiblity of troops from different countries, including Italy.
For years, they told us that the aim of the mission was to bring democray and peace to Afghanistan to promote women's rights. Only because of our direct relationships with Afghan women's associations have we been able to follow the situation that faced them and to recognise the capicit for active, non-violent resistence of the population and the courage of the women that permits them to say openly that they want the end of the war, of the military occupation, and of the war lords and opium lords who are clearly supported by the US.
These women are a point of reference for the entire population because of the capacity that they have demonstrated to interpret their pain and provide for their own needs: from this has come the founding and operation of women's associations for education of girls and boys, which were already clandestinely active under the Taleban regime - a political and humanitarian commitment full of difficulties and grave risks.
With fighting in progress, women are robbed of the possibility to express themselves. Together with children they are the target of massacres, which they know to be cruel and useless.
