Reading Room Document

Application of Treaties and Laws to al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees

This opinion evaluates whether the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War ("Geneva III") apply to captured members of al Qaeda and the Taliban militia. The opinion determines that al Qaeda detainees cannot claim the protections of either agreement, due to al Qaeda's role as a nonstate actor and the novel nature of the conflict. Similarly, although Afghanistan is a signatory to Geneva III, the president may suspend the treaty obligations with respect to Afghanistan by deeming it a failed state. This opinion was partially rescinded in 2009. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/docs/memo-laws-taliban-detainees.pdf.

January 22, 2002