Milan Corriere della Sera: Italian Agent Reveals Mission in Afghanistan, Recounts Abduction, Release

05 Oct 07

[Report by Fiorenza Sarzanini: "Second Agent Tells His Story: 'We Were Supposed To Negotiate With the Taleban Over the Construction of a Bridge'"]

Rome — The two intelligence agents from the SISMI [Intelligence and Military Security Service; now renamed Italian Agency for External Security and Intelligence (AISE)] who were abducted in Afghanistan were to be used for an exchange of prisoners. This was revealed, immediately after his release, by the agent who survived the blitz carried out by the British and Italian troops. He went back over the phases of the abduction, and revealed the purpose of their mission: to meet with a leading member of the Taleban. There are many details, but some understandable omissions in the reconstruction by the official, who, prior to his return to Italy, went through the so-called debriefing, the procedure envisioned in cases such as this, precisely to ensure that details which are official secrets are not revealed.

The meeting with the Taleban

“Ever since June — he said — we have dealt with getting information from collaborators and informants, so as to guarantee the security of the Italian military contingent.”

In actual fact, the prime objective was to allow the building of a bridge in the Zirko valley, an area where several groups and ethnic tribes live side by side, and where armed militias are also present. “With my colleague, I had entered into contact with all the main figures in the valley, including the Taleban, so as to ensure that during building work there were no acts of violence against employees of the construction firm.” The intelligence agent then revealed what the objective of his trip on Saturday 22 September was: “A ’source’ allowed us to enter into contact with a leading Taleban figure. In the morning I, Lorenzo, and the interpreter left, and on the way we also picked up the person who was to act as our go-between. We were bound for the Zirko valley, but he told us to change route, and not go through the city center, because they might recognize us. After a police road-block, we took a dirt track.”

The capture

A short time later, the trap was sprung. “We saw a number of men coming toward us. As soon as we got out, we were surrounded by armed people who took away our weapons and objects. They made me get inside the trunk of a car. I was alone, with a hood on my head. Then they made me get out and walk, I think I crossed a small stream. When we came to a halt they lifted off my hood, but I could only look down at the ground. We went up, into the mountains, I think. I could hear the interpreter and Lorenzo close by. I still had the hood on, and every so often I was kicked. I tried to talk to Lorenzo, who was trying to reassure me. At a certain point they went off to one side with Lorenzo, I don’t know what they said to him. They were asking him questions, I was some distance away, and I couldn’t hear. At dawn, they made us resume walking, still blindfolded, and then they led us into a kind of cave. They took the blindfold off, because they wanted to know who we were, and what we wanted. Lorenzo explained to me that I had to tell the truth, and I admitted that we were there to allow the commencement of construction work in secure conditions. The interpreter translated. Then I was blindfolded once again.” At the base in Herat the alert had already been triggered. The hypothesis that the two men had been captured was the prevalent one. Contacts were got under way to try to find out whose hands they had ended up in.

The exchange of prisoners

The abductors revealed to the two intelligence agents what was at stake. “The person who had questioned us began to beat us, accusing us of belonging to the secret services. They told us that it was their intention to exchange us for their prisoners.” After the “Mastrogiacomo affair,” Westerners have become a more and more valuable commodity to Afghan guerrilla fighters. The President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, said at the time that no concession would be made in the future to the terrorists. This firm stance was agreed with by Italy, and was reiterated in this case too. Then there was the aggravating factor that the hostages were secret agents, and so no negotiation would be possible. It was precisely in view of this situation that the government decided to immediately manifest its “agreement to a military intervention,” as was explained in parliament by Defense Minister Arturo Parisi.

The blitz

When evening descended, the prisoners were taken near a house. “They didn’t let us go inside — the intelligence agent revealed — but they forced us to sit down on the ground. That night, the man who had questioned us came back; he had a turban on, as before. He told us that he was happy, because the media had reported our abduction. He knew that we were military (?intelligence) personnel. We stayed bound and hooded until the morning. Lorenzo was also tied up. The next morning, at dawn I think, they made us walk again, still with hoods on. They forced us aboard a car, the same car which we were found in.”

At this point, the gang was located by the intelligence services. The blitz by the Western military forces was launched a short time after. “I was the last one to get in the back of the car — the agent recollected — They covered us with a canvas. I thought that we were going to die, we couldn’t breathe. Two hours later, we heard the noise of a helicopter. The car began to go faster, then it suddenly stopped. I heard two shots, and then a number of bursts of gunfire at the car. I flattened my body more, I began to shout, I showed my wrists. A Briton freed me from my hood and made me lie flat on the ground. The shoot-out was continuing. The abductors got out and opened the car doors. I don’t know where the shots were coming from, but not from the helicopter. I think that the abductors fired at the car. It all must have happened in the space of around two minutes. When I got out and began to walk, a British man helped me to get aboard the helicopter. Lorenzo was placed aboard by two people, because he was seriously injured. We were taken first to the hospital in Farah, and then to the British hospital. All the personnel I saw were British, and in the helicopter they were also British.”

[Description of Source: Milan Corriere della Sera (Internet Version-WWW) in Italian -- leading centrist daily; largest circulation of Italian dailies. OSC EUP20071005058008, October 5, 2007.]