The issue of what happens to child soldiers in Afghanistan is being raised both in Canada and the United States.  In Canada, the deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff, pressed the government on its practice of turning child soldiers over to Afghan authorities because of concern about how prisoners are treated by  the Afghans. Defense Minister Peter MacKay responded that he understood “that there are current provisions within the Afghan detention system to keep juvenile prisoners separate from others.”  He could offer no assurances but instead berated the Liberals for focusing on the rights of Afghan prisoners while Canadian soldiers are being killed. The matter of Omar Khadr’s detention at Guantanamo is also a matter of controversy again.  He was 15 six years ago at the time of his capture in a battle in Afghanistan.  Radhika Coomasrawamy, the U.N. Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, has written to Canadian authorities to solicit their intervention in the case.  She also met on November 20 with John Bellinger, senior legal advisor to Condoleezza Rice, to express concern about trying someone for “alleged acts committed when he was a child,” as her spokesperson Laurence Gerard put it.   While Canada has not sought to have Khadr transferred back to Canada, it is exerting pressure on Bulgaria to return Michael Kapoustin, who is in prison in that country for fraud, tax evasion, and embezzlement.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper personally pressed the issue with Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov.