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About Carlo Ungaro

Carlo Ungaro is a former Italian diplomat. He spent sixteen years serving in Afghanistan.  Between 2000 and 2007, he served as political adviser to the Italian led ISAF forces in Herat

Articles by Carlo Ungaro

Wednesday 1st February

The December 2011 Bonn Conference: a farewell to Afghanistan?

Carlo Ungaro, 1 February 2012
Several new elements are added, almost daily, to worsen the complexity of the situation, and rumours of an imminent military coup in Islamabad do little to clarify matters.
Wednesday 30th November

After the fall of Berlusconi, who reaps the benefits?

Carlo Ungaro, 30 November 2011
The Catholic Church is seizing the advantage offered by the debacle suffered by almost all the Italian political parties, and therefore appears set to play a growing role in Italy’s political life, ending up as the principal, though perhaps occult, arbiter of future decisions and orientations.
Friday 14th October

Deepening Italian crisis: who reaps the benefits?

Carlo Ungaro, 14 October 2011
Italy's opposition has not gained in prestige due to Berlusconi's decline and the economic, political and social crisis afflicting the country. Into this political void the Roman Catholic church has stepped.
Monday 15th August

The crisis in Italy: the Vatican and the end of the Berlusconi era

Carlo Ungaro, 15 August 2011
Silvio Berlusconi's position in Italy seems weaker then ever. The Vatican however has renewed its dogmatic stance towards Italian politics and will step into the vacuum, increasing its influence and demanding a price for its blessing of the party that will take over from Berlusconi
Tuesday 19th July

Is Italy on the brink of debacle?

Carlo Ungaro, 19 July 2011
The austerity measures will be felt primarily by a lower middle-class, already tested by the ever-growing divide between rich and poor in Italy. But a bleak political prospect goes well beyond the sense of panic caused by the economic and financial problems which beset the country
Wednesday 12th January

Has Berlusconi reached the end of the road?

Carlo Ungaro, 12 January 2011
Having narrowly survived a vote of confidence, the Berlusconi government remains unstable. Carlo Ungaro develops three scenarios that could emerge.
Friday 8th October

Afghanistan betrayed

Carlo Ungaro, 8 October 2010
An overly obtuse and childish mentality by the Allied forces in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2006 has had devastating consequences for the mission. After destroying the country’s fragile social structure and abandoning the Afghan people, Carl Unargo argues that we will once again betray Afghanistan while celebrating with false confidence its “democratic” institutions.
Thursday 2nd September

An Italian “Gotterdammerung”

Carlo Ungaro, 2 September 2010
There are other players to take into account apart from Gianfranco Fini in the latest challenge to Berlusconi’s reign, not least a fickle Italian public and the small matter of parliamentary retirement pensions
Monday 30th August

A formula for failure: the Kabul Conference on the future of Afghanistan

Carlo Ungaro, 30 August 2010
The Afghan mission continues to flounder without direction, over a month after the "future of Afghanistan" was discussed at the Kabul Conference.
Tuesday 24th August

The Clash of Civilizations revisited

Carlo Ungaro, 24 August 2010
Samuel P. Huntington’s oft-pilloried work, “The Clash of Civilizations”, has long lost its original academic potency. However it has growing leverage at the grass-roots level where the clash has been reinterpreted to justify growing islamophobia
Monday 2nd August

Petraeus's militias: the risk of civil war

Carlo Ungaro, 2 August 2010
Petraeus's proposed Afghan militias risk restoring the conditions that led Afghanistan to civil war in the 1990s. This, the Kabul conference and other initiatives have no hope unless civilian command of the military mission in Afghanistan is asserted, argues Carlo Ungaro.
Friday 23rd July

Afghan civil society must not be abandoned

Carlo Ungaro, 23 July 2010
Afghan civil society and NATO war aims: talk to the Taleban and all traditional leaders
Thursday 22nd July

The antiquarian of Herat

Carlo Ungaro, 22 July 2010
Diplomatic reminiscences from Herat in the 1970s; delicate interventions, fragile civil society.
Thursday 1st July

Italy's “business as usual”

Carlo Ungaro, 1 July 2010
There is a certain kind of drift into a regime that has nothing to do with the introduction of paramilitary stances, Roman salutes or party uniforms: more to do with television
Wednesday 23rd June

Central Asia: the erupting volcano

Carlo Ungaro, 23 June 2010
The West turned a blind eye to the potential volatility of Central Asia because it was convenient, in Carlo Ungaro's view. Recent events in Kyrgyzstan show how dangerous this stance is. In adjacent areas of Afghanistan the discovery of mineral riches is likely further to complicate an already fraught situation.
Monday 14th June

Is the Afghan "Jirgah" the way forward?

Carlo Ungaro, 14 June 2010
The "Peace Jirgah" called by President Karzai convened amidst accusations that the process has being rigged. But rather than dismissing it as another government failure, Carlo Ungaro says it should be seen as an instrument to help reconcile respected and valid Afghan traditions to the country’s aspirations to be part of the modern family of nations
Wednesday 2nd June

Afghanistan: stop prevaricating

Carlo Ungaro, 2 June 2010
Twenty years experience in Central Asia informs Carlo Ungaro's view that the allies should radically devolve power in Afghanistan and reconsider its international border with Pakistan
Wednesday 19th May

An "exit strategy" is little use in the Afghan labyrinth

Carlo Ungaro, 19 May 2010
We need to break old assumptions if Afghanistan and Pakistan are to be secured, argues Carlo Ungaro
Tuesday 27th April

Central Asia - the smouldering volcano

Carlo Ungaro, 27 April 2010
As the recent popular violence in Kyrgyzstan reminded us, Central Asia is strategically vital. The West needs to work with Russia, and China, to put in place a programme of pre-emptive damage control
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