http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060602/afghanistan_prisoners_060602As Canadian military brass take fire at home for the policy of handing over prisoners to the Afghan army, Canadian forces on the ground are dealing with the sometimes grim reality of the agreement.
Canadian troops have been aggressively patrolling Afghanistan in recent months, engaging the enemy, raiding suspected hideouts and taking prisoners.
On a recent patrol with Canadian forces "outside the wire" in the Panjwai region of Afghanistan, CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer watched the scenario play out as soldiers tried to decide what to do with a suspected Taliban insurgent they captured.
"By law, they are handed over to Afghan authorities," Mackey Frayer said.
"But in this case, during a raid at a compound where a Canadian vehicle had been ambushed, Afghan soldiers threatened summary execution. They were adamant he was Taliban and should be forced to pay."
CTV cameras captured the discussion as it unfolded.
"They want to execute him here. I am obviously not for that. Recommend pickup or holding," says one soldier, speaking over a radio.
"He's probably of low intel value but either we take him or he gets executed. I need you to manage that. Over."
Under the tense circumstances, the Canadian soldiers decide to hold onto the prisoner until he can be delivered to less agitated Afghan authorities -- contravening the current policy on prisoners.
But eventually, the Canadians hand him back to the Afghan soldiers.
For the next 24-hours he remains handcuffed in the back of a pickup truck.
Then he disappears, his whereabouts, and fate, unknown.
When Canadian soldiers first arrived in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, they handed detainees over to the United States.
Under a new agreement brokered in December however, captured fighters are now handed over to the Afghan military.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he doesn't expect the agreement to change any time soon.
"Well, we have a firm agreement with the Afghan government, and that agreement protects Canada's obligation, Canada's international obligations, and obviously we will stay in touch with Afghan authorities to ensure that that agreement is being honoured," he said.
A recent report in The Globe and Mail claims prisoners captured in Afghanistan are not subject to the protection of the Geneva Convention, because Canada does not consider them to be legal combatants.
Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor refuted the reports this week, however.
"When they take prisoners, they will always follow the rules of the Geneva Convention, no lower standard than that," he told the Commons.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions provide protections and rights to prisoners of war, including the right to be released at the end of a conflict, and to not face criminal charges.
Canadian regulations updated in 1991 allow for tribunals to be held in order to determine the status of detainees under the Conventions when there is doubt.
O'Connor also said the Afghan government allows the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations to monitor prisoners.
Other coalition countries, such as Britain and the Netherlands have prisoner agreements similar with the Afghan government.
The Dutch government, however, takes the agreement one stop further by reserving the right to actually visit the detainees their soldiers take.
The United States is the only country under no obligation to turn over suspected militants to local authorities.
While official numbers are difficult to obtain, it is believed there are at least two hundred suspected Taliban prisoners in Kandahar's three jails.
With a report by CTV's Middle East Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer
So we can't give them to the US and we can't give them to the locals so what do they want us to do?
