wytze
08-12-05, 12:13
Rice and NATO to set rules for Afghan force
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2005
BERLIN Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other NATO foreign ministers will spell out rules this week for treating prisoners taken by the alliance's expanded peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a spokesman in Brussels said Wednesday. But the Netherlands may refuse to send troops for the force in southern Afghanistan unless the United States gives assurances that detainees will not be tortured by the authorities in Afghanistan or other countries, Dutch legislators said. As soon as she arrived in Europe Monday night, Rice ran into a furor about reports that the United States had transferred terror suspects through Europe to secret jails for interrogation. She faced the prospect of continued questioning on the issue at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by the Dutch and many other European allies after she arrived in Brussels on Wednesday. She has denied that prisoners are being tortured, and a NATO official said the rules for handling detainees in Afghanistan when a 6,000-member expanded NATO force moves into the south of the country were intended to answer Dutch concerns. There are 12,000 American soldiers and 9,200 NATO-led troops there now. "The rules of detention are clear: The Red Cross and the Red Crescent will be notified immediately, detainees can be held for a maximum of 96 hours, and must be handed over to the Afghan authorities," a NATO official said Wednesday. Dutch legislators said they were prepared to link any agreement for sending more Dutch troops to Afghanistan with assurances that detainees would be held under the rules of international law. "When it comes to our involvement in Afghanistan, we do not want to cooperate in any way in sending enemy combatants to places that fall outside international law," said Louise Van der Laan, deputy leader of Democracy-66, the junior partner in the Dutch government coalition. "We don't want to be implicated in any Guantánamo Bays," she said, referring to the U.S. detention camp for terrorists in Cuba. A Washington Post report last month said that the United States had a network of such camps in other countries, including two in eastern Europe. Poland and Romania, where Rice signed an agreement Tuesday to set up American bases, have denied such camps ever existed there. The Netherlands, along with Britain and Canada, agreed earlier this year to send troops to the south of Afghanistan, where NATO has been involved since August of 2003. An official of the Defense Ministry in the Netherlands said the plan was the country to move 500 of its troops from western Afghanistan. In the south, military officials say, NATO troops could be engaged in high-level combat missions in an area where there has been a resurgence of fighting by the Taliban. "This will be a difficult mission that will demand robust responses," said a NATO military official who requested anonymity in keeping with alliance rules. Legislators, military planners and public opinion in the Netherlands are still haunted by the 1995 massacre of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where United Nations peacekeepers under Dutch command looked on as Serbian forces killed thousands of civilian men and boys. A senior Dutch military official said the Dutch Parliament was seeking maximum security guarantees for the mission, which would be the highest-level ground combat operation undertaken by NATO. It also wanted to know the rules of engagement if the troops were attacked. Van der Laan said the issue was clear. "If Dutch or other troops detain enemy combatants, and if we have to hand them over to the Afghan authorities after 96 hours, we want an assurance from the Afghan authorities that they will abide by international law over the treatment of any detainees. We cannot be asked to send troops when we are not even being told about how the combatants are treated," she said. Another major concern for the Netherlands is the future role of American troops in the south of Afghanistan, where a coalition of forces led by the United States has been engaged in counterterrorism operations since late 2001.
By Judy Dempsey International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2005
BERLIN Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other NATO foreign ministers will spell out rules this week for treating prisoners taken by the alliance's expanded peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, a spokesman in Brussels said Wednesday. But the Netherlands may refuse to send troops for the force in southern Afghanistan unless the United States gives assurances that detainees will not be tortured by the authorities in Afghanistan or other countries, Dutch legislators said. As soon as she arrived in Europe Monday night, Rice ran into a furor about reports that the United States had transferred terror suspects through Europe to secret jails for interrogation. She faced the prospect of continued questioning on the issue at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by the Dutch and many other European allies after she arrived in Brussels on Wednesday. She has denied that prisoners are being tortured, and a NATO official said the rules for handling detainees in Afghanistan when a 6,000-member expanded NATO force moves into the south of the country were intended to answer Dutch concerns. There are 12,000 American soldiers and 9,200 NATO-led troops there now. "The rules of detention are clear: The Red Cross and the Red Crescent will be notified immediately, detainees can be held for a maximum of 96 hours, and must be handed over to the Afghan authorities," a NATO official said Wednesday. Dutch legislators said they were prepared to link any agreement for sending more Dutch troops to Afghanistan with assurances that detainees would be held under the rules of international law. "When it comes to our involvement in Afghanistan, we do not want to cooperate in any way in sending enemy combatants to places that fall outside international law," said Louise Van der Laan, deputy leader of Democracy-66, the junior partner in the Dutch government coalition. "We don't want to be implicated in any Guantánamo Bays," she said, referring to the U.S. detention camp for terrorists in Cuba. A Washington Post report last month said that the United States had a network of such camps in other countries, including two in eastern Europe. Poland and Romania, where Rice signed an agreement Tuesday to set up American bases, have denied such camps ever existed there. The Netherlands, along with Britain and Canada, agreed earlier this year to send troops to the south of Afghanistan, where NATO has been involved since August of 2003. An official of the Defense Ministry in the Netherlands said the plan was the country to move 500 of its troops from western Afghanistan. In the south, military officials say, NATO troops could be engaged in high-level combat missions in an area where there has been a resurgence of fighting by the Taliban. "This will be a difficult mission that will demand robust responses," said a NATO military official who requested anonymity in keeping with alliance rules. Legislators, military planners and public opinion in the Netherlands are still haunted by the 1995 massacre of Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where United Nations peacekeepers under Dutch command looked on as Serbian forces killed thousands of civilian men and boys. A senior Dutch military official said the Dutch Parliament was seeking maximum security guarantees for the mission, which would be the highest-level ground combat operation undertaken by NATO. It also wanted to know the rules of engagement if the troops were attacked. Van der Laan said the issue was clear. "If Dutch or other troops detain enemy combatants, and if we have to hand them over to the Afghan authorities after 96 hours, we want an assurance from the Afghan authorities that they will abide by international law over the treatment of any detainees. We cannot be asked to send troops when we are not even being told about how the combatants are treated," she said. Another major concern for the Netherlands is the future role of American troops in the south of Afghanistan, where a coalition of forces led by the United States has been engaged in counterterrorism operations since late 2001.