Luca Maestripieri on Afghanistan: “We will not abandon anyone.”

ROME – Luca Maestripieri, director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) reiterated that “We do not intend to abandon anyone, least of all the Afghan people. We are only partially relieved by the arrival of our Italian colleagues in Fiumicino, after having evacuated our headquarters in Afghanistan – said Maestripieri – however, our minds and hearts are still on the runway of the Kabul airport, where hundreds of our Afghan friends and collaborators are waiting to leave “.

The gratitude towards the collaborators. “As the Deputy Foreign Minister Marina Sereni has already declared, in agreement with the Defense Department, we thank all of them for what they are doing. For our part, we will do everything to bring to Italy also the Afghan citizens who have collaborated with us. The stories of our colleagues who have just landed in Fiumicino strike us, we do not want anyone to be abandoned, neither these days nor in the future. We hope to rebuild the conditions to continue supporting the Afghan population “.

As published in La Repubblica.