Netherlands has conditions for Afghan role

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Debating a NATO request for 1,000 troops for Afghanistan, the Netherlands government is seeking guarantees prisoners of war will be treated humanely.

Foreign Minister Ben Bot said the guarantees were an important condition for the participation of Dutch troops in an anti-Taliban mission in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, Radio Netherlands reported Thursday.

Bot said the government was seeking the assurance of detention under the Geneva Convention conditions not only from NATO, but specifically from the United States, which calls such prisoners of war "illegal combatants."