After a quiet night as free men, Marco Garatti, Matteo dell’Aira and Matteo Pagani are getting ready to leave for Italy. Reports that they had refused to take a government plane have been denied. Source tells AsiaNews that NGOs continue their work but they must “be more prudent and use more caution” as well as operate with “impartiality and for free”.

Kabul (AsiaNews) – Marco Garatti, Matteo dell’Aira and Matteo Pagani, three aid workers with the Italian medical charity Emergency who were released yesterday by Afghan authorities, have spent a quiet night before meeting colleagues this morning at the Emergency hospital in Kabul. Italian Foreign Ministry envoy Massimo Attilio Iannucci is organising their repatriation. Early reports that the three men had rejected a proposed flight back to Italy on an Italian government plane were denied. Sources in Kabul told AsiaNews that “work by humanitarian organisations in Afghanistan continues” but that they must “be more prudent and use more caution”.

Arrested on 10 April, the three Italian aid workers, plus six of their Afghan colleagues, worked at the Emergency centre in Lashkar-gah. They were detained ostensibly for plotting to kill Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand province. Diplomatic efforts by the Italian Foreign Ministry and secret services were successful in gaining their release, yesterday. after days of tensions and uncertainties over their fate, Garatti, dell’Aira and Pagani were able to spend a peaceful night.

The decision not to take a government plane, as initially reported, had caused a row in Italy between the NGO, founded by surgeon Gino Strada, and the Italian government. For Defence Undersecretary Guido Corsetto, that decision was beyond the pale and needed no comment. However, Rossella Miccio, of Emergency, said that it was all a misunderstanding. Foreign Ministry envoy Iannucci noted that the three aid workers “would take a commercial flight and I will be with them.”

A source in Kabul, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told AsiaNews, “The issue was happily and quickly solved because of the active work behind the scene by Italian diplomats and secret services.” The situation appeared “complicated and difficult” but the “discretion” used in the case led to a “quick” positive outcome.

All the same, the affair that embroiled the three Emergency aid workers could complicate the life of other non-governmental organisations in Afghanistan.

“It is necessary to be more prudent and use more caution,” the AsiaNews source in Kabul said. Still, work goes on.

“In spite of its ideological leaning, the NGO founded by Gino Strada has always done great work in the country, like many others, in promoting development.”

Work and assistance projects continue, but “people must be more careful, especially in areas where the Taliban are strongest.”

The source told AsiaNews that NGOs “must be more cautious and be better at picking their collaborators”, especially among Afghans.

A basic principle must be followed: “Work with impartiality and for free because locals are smart, proud and will not accept aid that hides colonialist tendencies or look like handouts.”

Charity “should come from the heart”, like that of the Sisters of Mother Teresa, who have “been working with the children of Kabul for years” without ulterior or political motives.

• afghanistan
• italian
• air
• workers
• emergency
• arrest
• release
• repatriation