Globe: Editorial - The Taliban as prisoners
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Thursday, June 1, 2006, Globe and Mail Editorial, The Taliban as prisoners
Canadian troops who capture Taliban fighters in Afghanistan face a conundrum. Canada has no military prison at its base in Kandahar. In any case, the Taliban are not a regular army, wearing uniforms and representing an established state. They are insurgents at best; just as often simple terrorists. In light of these considerations, Canada is well within its rights to hand the captured fighters to the Afghan authorities, a practice that began last December, replacing the earlier one of delivering the fighters to the U.S. military.
After all, Canada is in Afghanistan to help its elected government maintain order and rebuild the country. The Afghan government is the sovereign power in the land, even if its strength is still fragile. The whole purpose of the international effort in Afghanistan is to help the Afghan authorities develop the capacity to govern the country and uphold its laws. It only makes sense that rebels against the government should be handed to its constituted authorities.
The new practice, also followed by other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is much preferable to handing the prisoners to the Americans. That earlier arrangement gave the impression that Canada was in Afghanistan simply to round up bad guys for the United States, which would then whisk them off to legal limbo in Guantanamo Bay or perhaps even subject them to the sorts of abuses suffered by detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Of course, there is always the risk that the prisoners handed over by Canada will be abused in Afghan jails. That is why Canada has negotiated an agreement with the Afghan government that requires authorities to allow the Red Cross to visit detainees at any time to ensure they are not mistreated and to keep records of the detainees that pass through their hands. Canada must do its best to make sure that the Afghans live up to the agreement. The Taliban may not be classic prisoners of war, but they deserve to be treated humanely by whoever is holding them.
Canadian troops who capture Taliban fighters in Afghanistan face a conundrum. Canada has no military prison at its base in Kandahar. In any case, the Taliban are not a regular army, wearing uniforms and representing an established state. They are insurgents at best; just as often simple terrorists. In light of these considerations, Canada is well within its rights to hand the captured fighters to the Afghan authorities, a practice that began last December, replacing the earlier one of delivering the fighters to the U.S. military.
After all, Canada is in Afghanistan to help its elected government maintain order and rebuild the country. The Afghan government is the sovereign power in the land, even if its strength is still fragile. The whole purpose of the international effort in Afghanistan is to help the Afghan authorities develop the capacity to govern the country and uphold its laws. It only makes sense that rebels against the government should be handed to its constituted authorities.
The new practice, also followed by other countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is much preferable to handing the prisoners to the Americans. That earlier arrangement gave the impression that Canada was in Afghanistan simply to round up bad guys for the United States, which would then whisk them off to legal limbo in Guantanamo Bay or perhaps even subject them to the sorts of abuses suffered by detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Of course, there is always the risk that the prisoners handed over by Canada will be abused in Afghan jails. That is why Canada has negotiated an agreement with the Afghan government that requires authorities to allow the Red Cross to visit detainees at any time to ensure they are not mistreated and to keep records of the detainees that pass through their hands. Canada must do its best to make sure that the Afghans live up to the agreement. The Taliban may not be classic prisoners of war, but they deserve to be treated humanely by whoever is holding them.
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