The Vancouver Sun | By Juliet O’Neill | 13 January 2010
Canadians shouldn’t worry about Afghan torture: NATO chief

Afghan detainees sit in an Afghan National Army compound at a Canadian forward operating base on Nov.13, 2008. (Photograph by: Ethan Baron/Canwest News Service)

OTTAWA — NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says Canadians should not be concerned about treatment of Afghan detainees because rules and practices are in place to prevent and stop abuse.

In an interview Wednesday with Canwest News Service he was asked if Canadians should be concerned about a risk of torture of detainees transferred to Afghan authorities by Canadian Forces — a topic that dominated the political debate before the government prorogued Parliament.

“Obviously it is a very important topic,” he said. “But I don’t think Canadians in general should be concerned about it because there are very clear rules regarding the handover of detainees.”

He said the rules governing transfer of detainees from NATO forces to Afghan authorities provide for them to be handed over within 96 hours and to inform the Red Cross.

“And I’m also aware of the fact that the Canadian government has agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the Afghan government, according to which there are established monitoring mechanisms,” he said. “So I think all in all we have the right legal and practical framework for that.”

Rasmussen, who became secretary general in August, was on a one-day visit to Ottawa for meetings with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and top ministers and defence officials. His meeting with Harper was delayed by the prime minister’s work on the Haitian earthquake file.

The secretary general is travelling to key NATO countries in part to discuss what he calls the “momentum” that will build as the U.S. and other NATO countries and partners add about 37,000 troops on the ground in Afghanistan.

He also said a key aim of a Jan. 28 international conference on Afghanistan in London is better co-ordination of aid and development efforts in Afghanistan so donors can get “value for money.”

Rasmussen declined to be drawn into debate about Canada’s decision to withdraw its more than 2,400 military personnel from Afghanistan in 2011, but said NATO troops will stay “as long as it takes” for Afghanistan to take care of its own security.

“It will end when the Afghans are capable to take responsibility for their security themselves and run the country themselves,” he said.

He noted Harper’s recent unequivocal comments in a Canwest News Service interview that no Canadian troops will be left in Afghanistan after the withdrawal that is scheduled from July to December 2011.

“It’s a Canadian decision,” he said. “But I can tell you that whatever Canada decides, NATO and ISAF (NATO military forces) will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job.”

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Source: VS