Bush Grants Geneva Convention Treatment to Taliban Soldiers

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, February 08, 2002

Bush Grants Geneva Convention Treatment to Taliban Soldiers

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday decided to treat Taliban soldiers captured in Afghanistan as prisoners of war according to the Geneva Convention.

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U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday decided to treat Taliban soldiers captured in Afghanistan as prisoners of war according to the Geneva Convention.

Associated Press, citing administration officials, reported that the Geneva Convention would only apply to Taliban soldiers, but not to al-Qaida fighters and other terrorists.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the decision was made to ensure that U.S. soldiers would be treated according to the Geneva Convention in case they are captured.

The Unite States is holding 158 Taliban soldiers and al-Qaida fighters at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. At least 100 of them are believed to be citizens of Saudi Arabia, and some of them are from Australia, Britain, Sweden and Yemen.

U.S. has just completed 320 new holding cells at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and a plane carrying more captives was expected to arrive at the base on Thursday.

The Bush administration had refused to treat the Guantanamo detainees as prisoners of war, saying they were the most dangerous fighters of the al-Qaida terrorist network and the ousted Taliban regime.

Human rights groups and some European governments have been requesting the Bush administration to treat the captives as prisoners of war and protect them according to the Geneva

Convention.

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