Following protests from allies around the world, President Bush announced today that the United States will grant the protections of the Geneva Convention to detainees who fought for Afghanistan's Taliban but will continue to deny them to members of the al Qaeda terrorist network.

Until now, the administration had denied that the 158 captives at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were covered by the Geneva Conventions, which ensure treatment of wartime captives is humane and subject to international law.

International lawyers said it could be argued that Bush's decision will curtail some tactics being used in interrogating Taliban fighters at the detention center, nicknamed Camp X-Ray. The lawyers said the decision strengthens the argument that the Taliban captives should be repatriated when hostilities cease.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, announcing the decision at a hastily scheduled afternoon briefing, said the decision about the detainees "will not change their material life on a day-to-day basis." The United States said it already was providing food and medical treatment and allowing the captives to practice their religion, which are other issues covered by the convention.

Fleischer said the administration is making the distinction in status of defenders of the Taliban regime, which controlled Afghanistan, and al Qaeda because Afghanistan is a party to the Geneva Conventions.

"Although the United States does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate Afghani government, the president determined that the Taliban members are covered under the treaty because Afghanistan is a party to the convention," Fleischer said. "Al Qaeda is an international terrorist group and cannot be considered a state party to the Geneva Convention."

Even supporters of the Taliban remain in something of a legal limbo, since the United States said they still will not be considered prisoners of war. But specialists in international law said the decision made it more likely that the Taliban detainees would receive individual hearings about whether they are POWs. "No distinction will be made in the good treatment given to the al Qaeda or the Taliban," Fleischer said.

With his decision, Bush acknowledged the concerns of Pentagon and State Department officials, who feared that denying the protections to detainees from Afghanistan could result in mistreatment of captured American soldiers at some future point in the war on terrorism.

Protests poured in from humanitarian groups around the world after the Defense Department released a photo that showed the Guantanamo detainees shackled, hooded and on their knees. Pentagon officials said the detainees were only in that position for safety just after being moved.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said at a combative briefing on Jan. 22 that no detainee had been harmed. "When people are moved, they are restrained," Rumsfeld said. "That is true in prisons across the globe. It is not anything new."

In a rare open airing of a disagreement within the Bush administration, officials confirmed that Secretary of State Colin L. Powell had asked Bush to reexamine his Jan. 18 decision to deny Geneva protections to the detainees. White House officials said Powell was responding in part to complaints from U.S. allies in Europe and elsewhere.

Fleischer said Bush "arrived at a just, principled and practical solution to a difficult issue."

"The president did so because, as Americans, the way we treat people is a reflection of America's values," Fleischer said. "The military operates under a code of conduct and upholds these values based on the dignity of every individual. The American people can take great pride in the way our military is treating these dangerous detainees."

Fleischer said the United States does not believe Taliban fighters are entitled to the status of prisoners of war because the conventions say that in order to be considered POWs, irregular forces must wear uniforms, report to a military hierarchy and abide by the codes of war.