Afghan immunity for US troops ludicrous

The US demand to retain legal jurisdiction over its troops in Afghanistan, which would give them immunity from Afghan law is “ludicrous” and “imperial delusion and hubris,” a political commentator in Missouri says.

United States insists that any US troops left in Afghanistan after the 2014 withdrawal of foreign forces from the country must enjoy legal immunity from Afghan judiciary system.

“Any time a person commits a crime, the person probably should be prosecuted under the law of the country,” said Dean Henderson, a columnist at the Veterans Today website.

“This whole notion that US soldiers in Afghanistan would be immune from prosecution for committing crimes is kind of ludicrous and an imperial delusion,” Henderson added.

The thought that US occupying forces in Afghanistan should be “immune from prosecution is imperial hubris, only in the United States would that idea even come up,” he added.

“But again if they want to protect these soldiers from prosecution under the laws of Afghanistan, the best thing to do would be to get them out of Afghanistan as soon as possible.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday that the United States cannot agree to a deal to keep American troops in Afghanistan after 2014 unless it is granted the right to try in the US its citizens who break the law in Afghanistan.

The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 under the pretext of war on terror.

The offensive removed the Taliban from power but more than a decade into the US-led invasion, Afghanistan remains gripped by insecurity despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops.

AHT/DB