This system will be undergoing maintenance April 18th between 9:00AM and 12:00PM CDT.

Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): What Is It, and How Has It Been Utilized?

Description

The deadly attacks on Afghan civilians allegedly by a U.S. service member have raised questions regarding the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in place between the United States and Afghanistan that would govern whether Afghan law would apply in this circumstance. In the case of Afghanistan, the SOFA, in force since 2003, provides that U.S. Department of Defense military and civilian personnel are to be accorded status equivalent to that of U.S. Embassy administrative and technical staff under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations of 1961. Accordingly, U.S. personnel are immune from criminal prosecution by Afghan authorities and are immune … continued below

Physical Description

34 pages.

Creation Information

Mason, R. Chuck March 15, 2012.

Context

This report is part of the collection entitled: Congressional Research Service Reports and was provided by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 772 times, with 26 in the last month. More information about this report can be viewed below.

Who

People and organizations associated with either the creation of this report or its content.

Author

Publisher

Provided By

UNT Libraries Government Documents Department

Serving as both a federal and a state depository library, the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department maintains millions of items in a variety of formats. The department is a member of the FDLP Content Partnerships Program and an Affiliated Archive of the National Archives.

About | Browse this Partner

Contact Us

Corrections Questions

What

Descriptive information to help identify this report. Follow the links below to find similar items on the Digital Library.

Description

The deadly attacks on Afghan civilians allegedly by a U.S. service member have raised questions regarding the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in place between the United States and Afghanistan that would govern whether Afghan law would apply in this circumstance. In the case of Afghanistan, the SOFA, in force since 2003, provides that U.S. Department of Defense military and civilian personnel are to be accorded status equivalent to that of U.S. Embassy administrative and technical staff under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic relations of 1961. Accordingly, U.S. personnel are immune from criminal prosecution by Afghan authorities and are immune from civil and administrative jurisdiction except with respect to acts performed outside the course of their duties. Under the existing SOFA, the United States would have jurisdiction over the prosecution of the service member who allegedly attacked the Afghan civilians.

Physical Description

34 pages.

Language

Item Type

Identifier

Unique identifying numbers for this report in the Digital Library or other systems.

Collections

This report is part of the following collection of related materials.

Congressional Research Service Reports

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of Congress. This legislative branch agency works exclusively for Members of Congress, their committees and their staff. This collection includes CRS reports from the mid-1960's through 2018—covering a variety of topics from agriculture to foreign policy to welfare.

About | Browse this Collection

What responsibilities do I have when using this report?

Digital Files

When

Dates and time periods associated with this report.

Creation Date

  • March 15, 2012

Added to The UNT Digital Library

  • June 15, 2012, 10:07 a.m.

Description Last Updated

  • July 12, 2020, 5:41 p.m.

Usage Statistics

When was this report last used?

Yesterday: 1
Past 30 days: 26
Total Uses: 772
More Statistics

Where

Geographical information about where this report originated or about its content.

Place Name

Publication Place

Map Information

  • map marker Place Name coordinates. (May be approximate.)
  • Repositioning map may be required for optimal printing.

Mapped Locations

Interact With This Report

Here are some suggestions for what to do next.

PDF Version Also Available for Download.

Citations, Rights, Re-Use

Links for Robots

Helpful links in machine-readable formats.

Archival Resource Key (ARK)

International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF)

Metadata Formats

Images

URLs

Stats

Mason, R. Chuck. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA): What Is It, and How Has It Been Utilized?, report, March 15, 2012; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc86663/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.

Back to Top of Screen