If the Taliban has actually started taking prisoners…

Posted: July 26, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news, war
Tags: ,

…instead of killing troops outright, then they have unfortunately gotten smart.

A soldier who knows he will not be taken prisoner is much more motivated to fight to the death. If they start following the rules of war even to a small degree the propaganda value and morale value will be very valuable to them.

Comments
  1. David W. Walters says:
    July 26, 2010 at 5:43 am

    I saw a video back in the 80’s showing the mujahedin holding Soviet POW’s……one by one, as the Russians begged on hands and knees, they were shot by laughing gunmen.
    Do not forget we supported these guys in the 80’s, not so much these kinds of actions, but overall in their fight against the Soviets. These guys became the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and it now surfaces from Julian Assange’s State Dept. leaks that the stinger missile’s we provided the mujahedin back then are being shot at us now.
    Back when the Soviets were fighting them, the dead bodies of Russian POW’s were a kind of propaganda that sent a message through the Russian ranks. Now they have one of ours, and I doubt it is because of any respect for the rules of war that they do not dispatch him as their fathers killed Russians with a bullet to the head. They know the value of a live POW probably from our experience from Vietnam…..Americans will negotiate most anything to get a POW back.