Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini and Chief of Staff Enzo Vecciarelli were in Herat in northwest Afghanistan on Tuesday.

The occasion was the ceremony to lower the Italian flag in the "Camp Arena".

The withdrawal of around 800 Italian soldiers from Afghanistan began at the beginning of May.

It should be completed by around the end of this month - if possible a few weeks before the withdrawal of all American soldiers from Afghanistan, which is scheduled for mid-July.

Matthias Rüb

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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    While the minister and the chief of staff from Rome, as well as the Italian and American commanders of the international troops stationed in Sector West, attended the symbolic act of hauling in and folding up the Italian tricolor, the engines of the mighty Ilyushin and Antonov hummed on the nearby airfield in the afternoon heat -Freighter planes.

    Speed ​​is of the essence when packing and shipping the 145 vehicles and eight helicopters, weapons and other equipment.

    What the Italians do not take with them in terms of equipment and facilities, they will hand over to the Afghan armed forces at the end of June or beginning of July, which will continue to use the "Camp Arena", albeit under a different name.

    800 wells and 105 schools

    After almost twenty years, Italy's mission in Afghanistan is not only coming to an end on the side of the United States and numerous other allies in the fight against Islamist terror, but a formative epoch since the end of the Second World War. The operation began in October 2001, a few weeks after the Al-Qaeda attacks in New York and Washington on “9/11”. The combat mission as part of the “International Security Assistance Force” (ISAF) against the Taliban and Al-Qaida was followed by participation in the NATO training mission “Resolute Support” (RS) from 2015. 53 Italian soldiers who were deployed in the capital, Kabul and Herat, died in Afghanistan and around 700 were wounded. "There are 53 tears that we will never forget," said Chief of Staff Vecciarelli on Tuesday at the ceremony in Herat.

    But it is not just the number of tears and grief that should be remembered after the Republic of Italy's two decades of service in the Hindu Kush. 44 polyclinics, a children's hospital and a rehab clinic, 105 schools, 17 government and administrative buildings as well as two prisons, 60 kilometers of water pipes and 800 wells, 130 kilometers of roads and three bridges, finally 34 military facilities, two women's shelters and the passenger terminal of Herater Airport are among them Defense Minister Guerini listed in Herat.

    At the time of the highest number of American and Western troops in Afghanistan under the American President Barack Obama in 2010, around 5,000 Italian soldiers were deployed in the Hindu Kush - not only in Herat and Kabul, but also in remote outposts, where the fighting with the Taliban were particularly violent. The total cost of the Italian mission in Afghanistan from October 2001 to its withdrawal at the end of June will amount to EUR 8.5 billion.