Afghanistan, the role of the Folgore

In April 2009, the Folgore Paratroopers Brigade will arrive in Afghanistan with all its available forces.

An impressive deployment with all its "attack" and support units:

• 8th Paratrooper Engineer Regiment Folgore
• 183rd Paratrooper Regiment Nembo
• 186th Paratrooper Regiment Folgore
• 187th Paratrooper Regiment Folgore
• Brigade Command and logistical units

The paratrooper brigade deploys the Command and Task Forces of the Regional Command West and the Italian contingent in Kabul.

During the mission, the paratroopers are engaged in operations against Taliban guerrillas, becoming involved in various firefights, IED attacks buried in the ground, or car bombs.

The first casualty occurred on July 14, 2009: an improvised explosive device (IED) along the road killed 1st Sgt. Maj. Par. Alessandro Di Lisio, a member of the 8th Paratrooper Engineer Regiment Folgore, and injured other soldiers, including, seriously, 1st Sgt. Maj. Par. Simone Careddu.

It will be a hot summer, that of 2009, very hot on the Afghan front.

The deployment of the Folgore, under the command of Colonel Par. Aldo Zizzo, will change the fate of what now seems like a distant mission to be archived.

It is important to remember that during that period, the Folgore had in Afghanistan three top-level officers in three key strategic positions:

Gen. Div. Incursore Paratrooper Marco Bertolini as Chief of Staff ISAF, Gen. Brig. Paratrooper Rosario Castellano as Commander of the Folgore Brigade and Commander of the Task Forces of the Regional Command West and the multinational contingent in Herat, and indeed, Colonel Paratrooper Aldo Zizzo, Commander of ITALFOR XX and the 186th Paratrooper Regiment Folgore.

The configuration and status of the Brigade, with the three battalions of maneuver regiments deployed on the front line, supported by one of the best engineer units of the Army (8th Rgt.), and the high level of troop preparation, at historical highs, will yield unprecedented results in the fight against the Taliban.

The change of pace

We are in 2008, the Americans are pushing. The security bubble in the area under Italian control needs to be increased.

The Wikileaks dispatches do not lie:

It will be our prerogative to convince Italy to take on a more significant role in the western region, where security conditions are deteriorating"

A few months pass from the dispatch, and the Folgore arrives. The mission becomes Combat, in every respect. For the special forces, it was so from the start, for the "conventional" forces, it becomes so now.

We mean no disrespect to the other specialties of the Italian Army, which have also contributed with a high sacrifice, including human lives, to the Afghan cause, and which, with the ISAF mission, have grown enormously, but the mission truly changes, data in hand, with the arrival of the men of Colonel Aldo Zizzo.

The objective is one: to increase the security bubble in the area under the control of the Italian contingent. The method is only one: to root out the Taliban by "neutralizing" them house by house. We struggle to maintain political correctness while writing this text. There is a problem in Italy, and we all know it.

We are obliged, for constitutional reasons, to call any military operation a "peace mission".

But in Afghanistan, there is war. And the Paratroopers, somewhat knowingly, somewhat romantically, know that their moment has come, whatever the cost, even the ultimate sacrifice.

For our rulers, the Folgore is nothing more than an extremely sharp tool of foreign policy.

The famous Prussian general and writer Carl Von Clausewitz argued that "War is nothing but the continuation of politics by other means. War is, therefore, not merely a political act, but a true instrument of politics, a continuation of political procedure, its continuation by other means".

No phrase was more apt in this context. But for the Paratroopers, it's fine this way. It's been fine this way since 1942, and it's fine this way today.

Base El Alamein (Farah), base Tarquinia (Shouz), and base Tobruk (Bala Boluk) will represent three crucial points that will have fundamental importance in the success of the mission. The three Regiments, deployed between Herat, Kabul, and Farah, will deal a severe blow to the Taliban, and in the numerous firefights, the fundamentalist militia will be forced to strongly moderate its combat ardor. 

The paratroopers of the Folgore will be the first Italians to be videotaped in combat in Afghanistan (October 6, 2009), thanks to Rai journalist Nico Piro. Images never seen before and discordant, indeed, with the label of peace mission given to the Italian mission in Afghanistan.

The hardest day, however, is September 17, 2009. Six Paratroopers will fall after an attack with an explosive charge of over 150kg near Kabul Airport.

Hit straight to the heart, the Paratrooper Brigade went on because MOLLA VILE, NOT THE FOLGORE.

Continues ...