President Trump is right to review the case of Maj. Matthew Golsteyn, a U.S. Army officer who has been charged with killing an Afghan citizen in 2010. But the president should wait for Golsteyn’s trial to conclude before issuing any pardon.
There is no doubt that Golsteyn’s case is a sad one. Leading an Army Special Forces “A-Team” during 2010’s Operation Moshtarak, Golsteyn’s mission was to support Marine and Afghan forces by targeting Taliban command, logistic, and intelligence units. As allied forces struggled to win government control over central-northern Helmand province, Moshtarak saw some of the bloodiest fighting of the Afghan war. During this period, Golsteyn allegedly killed a Taliban bomb-maker. Golsteyn says he had to do so in order to protect Afghan informants that the bomb-maker was aware of.
If true, there is only one moral and military tactical response to the bomb-maker’s demise: celebration. However, the U.S. military must be bound to more than the tactical interests of the moment. An institution of the U.S. government, its personnel must be accountable to the law. And with limited exceptions, the law says that unarmed combatants are to be detained humanely when captured by U.S. personnel. Assuming, as appears to be the case, that Golsteyn’s bomb-maker was unarmed and under U.S. detention when he was killed, it is hard to see how that killing was lawful. So now that the case has entered the public domain and thus that the military’s authority is in question, it must proceed.
But it is also necessary, based on the available evidence, that President Trump fully pardon Golsteyn of any crime of which he is convicted, at least of any crime more serious than that of conduct unbecoming an officer. Trump’s pardon would ensure Golsteyn serves no prison time and can live freely with his civilian integrity upheld. The circumstances of that which he is accused — killing of a combatant in a brutal war of high stress — and the totality of Golsteyn’s service record all suggest that he is a good man.
But it is crucial that Trump wait to pardon Golsteyn until after the verdict of his case is delivered. To do otherwise would be to mock military law and the imperative of discipline for the effective conduct of military operations.
