Saturday, December 10, 2011

Color Me Confused Updated

The Canadians just reached an agreement for handling detainees in Afghanistan by handing them over to the American facility north of Kabul.  This facility is being transitioned towards Afghan responsibility, and the Canadians would still be tracking the detainees after handover. 

Pardon me for being naive, but I am really confused: if Canada is only doing behind-the-wire training and no mentoring in the field, who exactly are the Canadian Forces detaining?  And how?  Can they arrest Afghans on bases?  Are there CF special ops types still wandering around the country?

Or is this just standard operating procedure, SOFA-esque (status of forces agreement)?  There is no way that the Canadians still had guys detained from their Kandahar days since the old rules still applied--96 hours max before turning over.  July is more than 96 hours ago.


So, I am confused. I am also a bit surprised that no one is minding the US as a potential keeper of CF detainees, but I guess Gitmo and Abu Ghraib are old news.

Updated:  Just got some info about this: the move here is both about the future and the past.  In case some guy is detained after penetrating a base where the CF happen to be, good to have procedures.  And, apparently, July was less than 96 hours ago...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any comments on the Afghanistan-tested drone that the Iranians somehow managed to get?
How bad is it for US intel and tech superiority?

Steve Saideman said...

This goes so far beyond what I claim to be my expertise that I don't have any comment. Other than, crap!