ISLAMABAD -- Startling revelations of the treatment of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops in Iraq comes as a powerful reminder of the plight of prisoners of war in U.S. custody in other trouble spots, most notably Afghanistan. Indeed, the moral authority of the world's so-called lone superpower has declined further due to the many contradictions in Washington's policy.
The pretext for invading Iraq and Afghanistan -- to establish a relatively more humane system of government in place of earlier dictatorial establishments -- has been fundamentally compromised. What has come about in both countries is a system of government that so far is neither fundamentally humane nor stabilizing.
For war-ravaged Afghanistan, the new revelations raise fresh questions. A number of families related to Afghans and to Pakistanis who were caught in Afghanistan during the United States-led war have been kept totally ignorant of the plight of their loved ones.