Afghanistan’s corpse-for-hostages deal

AFP Senior Afghan officials are negotiating the return of a senior Taliban commander’s body, and they’re seeking the return of five captured health workers as compensation. The death of Mullah Dadullah last month was heralded as a major blow against the insurgency. It’s too early to tell if that is truly the case, but at ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.
601460_070605_dadullah_05.jpg
601460_070605_dadullah_05.jpg

AFP

AFP

Senior Afghan officials are negotiating the return of a senior Taliban commander’s body, and they’re seeking the return of five captured health workers as compensation. The death of Mullah Dadullah last month was heralded as a major blow against the insurgency. It’s too early to tell if that is truly the case, but at least his remains may help spring some of the Taliban’s victims. Hostage deals in Afghanistan have become increasingly controversial (a swap for an Italian hostage earlier this year came under intense criticism), but it’s hard to quibble with this one.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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