he International Committee of the Red Cross is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance.

                                                                                                     -ICRC’s Mission Statement

No one can accuse the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of not following its own code.

Responding to the severely limited health services available in Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest and most dangerous countries, the ICRC has been providing first aid kits and information about the Geneva Conventions to anyone in the conflict areas, including Afghan security forces and the Taliban. This has triggered an angry response from some, but others see it as “neutrality at its best.”

According to news reports in May 2010, the ICRC says it has trained and equipped more than 70 Taliban members with first aid kits and provided the same first-aid training and kits to civilians, over 100 Afghan military personnel, taxi drivers used to transport the wounded, and members of the charity’s own staff. Christian Cardon, a spokesman for ICRC, said “Our aim is to treat people when and where it matters most, irrespective of what side they are on.” He described the training as “enough to ensure that someone wounded in the field will be able to reach a hospital or a medical facility without dying on the trip there” Participants also are educated about the Geneva Conventions. “The idea of this is to have contact with people that are involved in the current hostility,” said Cardon, also saying that Afghan police have received similar training.

So, should this aid, training and “expert advice or assistance” protected by the Geneva Conventions count as prohibited material support to groups  the U.S. government has listed as “terrorist”?

Before you answer, you may be surprised to learn that NATO forces have provided Taliban fighters in Afghanistan with first aid too, and views the ICRC as an important ally in the region.

Lt. Col. Todd Viciana, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said, “One of the litany of things that separates the international coalition from the Taliban is that we have frequently provided first aid to injured Taliban fighters.” Col. Viciana said the ISAF has a close working relationship with the ICRC and recognizes “the need for their work to be executed impartially — and it’s precisely for this reason that they are able to gain the access that they do,” he said.

Under international humanitarian law all warring parties, be they international military forces or an armed opposition, are obliged to allow unimpeded access to wounded and sick persons, regardless of military, political or ethnic affiliation. Impartiality is a fundamental principle of nongovernmental organizations providing humanitarian assistance during times of armed conflict. It’s time to change U.S. laws that restrict them and allow aid groups to do their work.