Afghanistan

After an absence of a couple of weeks and a summer silence on this blog, we are back.  I've got a bit of catching up to do. I want to spend the next couple of days discussing some legal issues arising from recent media reports about the war in Afghanistan. Later this week, I will write about US targetting of drug traffickers in Afghanistan with links to the Taliban. Today I wish to address reports (see here, here and here) indicating that Taliban's leaders have issued a handbook containing a code of conduct for its fighters. In particular, I am interested in how this issuance of such a "code of conduct" may affect the determination of prisoner of war status in international armed conflicts. According to FoxNews: The handbook - written in Pashto and obtained through U.S. military sources - is entitled "Afghanistan Islamic Emirate Rules and Regulations," and it is addressed to the "Mujahideen Pashto," or Taliban commanders. Written on May 9 in Kandahar, the birthplace of…