KABUL – While the embassies of all the countries of the world closed and the diplomats fled, he remained there, in the midst of chaos, among the desperate people of Kabul. And the photos that have immortalized him as he picks up a child to take him to safety at the airport have been around the world. Tommaso Claudi, the last official of the Italian embassy left at the Kabul airport after the return of the Taliban to Afghanistan, has been involved for days in evacuating his fellow citizens in the Afghan capital. But no one knew until those photos ended up on the “net”: you can see him, helmet over the shoulder and bulletproof vest, crouching on a wall to grab a 7 or 8 year old child and carry him safely to the side of the airport manned by the US military. 

One of those photos (the pic above) was also posted on Facebook by the Foreign Minister, Luigi di Maio: “In Kabul, faced with a dramatic situation, our Consul Tommaso Claudi is up to the last second useful in the front line to help the Afghan people, together with our military – reads the post of the Italian minister -. Italy will not turn its back on you. Thanks Tommaso, we are all proud of you, of the work you are doing tirelessly, with love and dedication”. And again Di Maio, in a post last week, had already reported Claudi’s heroism. “If we are managing to bring home our compatriots and the Afghans who have collaborated with our country we owe it also to people like Tommaso Claudi. Our Consul in Kabul. His commitment in an emergency situation, in the face of obvious difficulties , is a proof of great love for Italy”, wrote the Foreign Minister on Facebook.

“Unfortunately we had to witness dramatic scenes, but we were able in absolutely emergency conditions to bring home our compatriots and some of our Afghan collaborators who in recent years have allowed us to operate in a difficult context – Claudi said to the Italian agency Ansa -. In Afghanistan we are witnessing a great humanitarian tragedy and we are all giving our all, putting all our hearts and professionalism we are capable of ”.

But who is Tommaso Claudi? 31 years old, originally from Camerino in the province of Macerata (Marche), two degrees, one in Linguistics in Pavia, the second in International Relations at the Cattolica in Milan, Claudi was appointed, in September 2017, legation secretary on probation for his career diplomatic, and confirmed in role from 5 June 2018. A few months later, in January 2019, he arrived as second commercial secretary in Kabul.

The civil-servant is not the only Italian left in Kabul. There are, of course, also the Carabinieri of Tuscania who yesterday managed to rescue the activists of the Italian non-profit organization “Pangea”. But the focus now is all on him, perhaps also because such heroism is generally not expected from a state official. And that photo fills Italy with pride. “A photo – reads one of the comments on Facebook – which makes us proud to be Italian. Really congratulations to our Consul Tommaso Claudi who prefers to get his hands dirty on the field rather than sitting behind a desk”.

The pic is taken from Minister Di Maio’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LuigiDiMaio