Canadian troops to hand Afghan prisoners to US
TORONTO—Canada says prisoners captured by Canadian troops in Afghanistan will now be handed over to the United States, not local authorities.
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Friday that the government has completed a new transfer agreement enabling the delivery of Canadian-captured prisoners to the U.S. detention facility at Parwan, north of Kabul.
The new agreement reverses a policy under which suspected Taliban fighters were sent to Afghanistan's notorious intelligence service or Kandahar's Sarpoza prison.
About 950 Canadian soldiers remain in Afghanistan in a training, noncombat role following the end of the combat mission last summer. This means they will rarely, if ever, engage in prisoner captures.
Baird did not explain how Canadian soldiers would now be in a position to take prisoners.
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