This caused controversy in the early 21st century. For example, in June 2002, the United States was fighting the War in Afghanistan. The Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, announced that the people the U.S. had captured were "unlawful combatants [who] do not have any rights under the Geneva Convention[s]." The U.S. said these people were unlawful combatants, not prisoners of war, because: