Khalid Sekander [former legal advisor to USAID]: "The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2006 that military commissions to try Guantanamo detainees were unconstitutional because they violated Common Article 3, Geneva Conventions, which states that detainees must be treated humanely and be afforded the same judicial guarantees "which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people." So earlier this month the U.S. shipped five of the Afghan-based Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan so that the Afghan legal system can try to treat them humanely and afford them those judicial guarantees recognized by civilized peoples.

The U.S. has high hopes the Afghan legal system can dispense justice in spite of possessing specific knowledge the Afghan legal system is still not functional after 30 years of war and despite law reform efforts capably led by the Italian government. No doubt the detainees are expected to defend against a system unequipped to satisfy international legal standards, including those protections recognized by civilized peoples, such as evidentiary standards, the right to defense attorneys, and a meaningful opportunity to cross-exam witnesses, among many others.

At least the U.S. is off the hook."