 The seal of the International Criminal Court | |
| File no. | 02/17 |
|---|---|
| Date opened | 5 March 2020 (2020-03-05) |
| Incident(s) | War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Treatment of women by the Taliban |
| Crimes | Crimes against humanity: · Gender persecution |
| Status of suspects | |
| Hibatullah Akhundzada | Fugitive |
| Abdul Hakim Haqqani | Fugitive |
| Website:https://www.icc-cpi.int/Afghanistan | |
TheInternational Criminal Court investigation in Afghanistan or theSituation in Afghanistan is an ongoing investigation by theInternational Criminal Court (ICC) intowar crimes andcrimes against humanity that are alleged to have occurred during thewar in Afghanistan since 1 May 2003, or in the case ofUnited States Armed Forces and theCIA, war crimes committed in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania or Lithuania.[1][2] On 5 March 2020, the investigation was authorised to officially begin.[3] Warrants of arrest were requested by the Prosecutor againstHibatullah Akhundzada,Supreme Leader of Afghanistan, andAbdul Hakim Haqqani,Chief Justice of Afghanistan in January 2025. The warrants were issued by Pre-Trial Chamber II on 8 July 2025 for the crime of humanity of persecution on gender grounds under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute.[4][5]
From 20 November 2017 to 31 January 2018, the ICC collected representations by victims in relation to their claims of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by theTaliban and affiliated armed groups, war crimes by theAfghan National Security Forces, and war crimes committed in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania byUnited States Armed Forces and the United StatesCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA).[1] Information about allegations of crimes committed by other international military forces in Afghanistan was also sought.[1]
In 2019, the request byFatou Bensouda, the ICC chief prosecutor, to open an investigation was rejected at the pretrial level on the grounds that the chance of a successful prosecution was low, much time had passed, Afghan and US authorities were uncooperative, and the investigation wouldn't "serve the interests of justice". On 5 March 2020, after an appeal against the decision, the investigation was authorised to proceed. JudgePiotr Hofmański stated that the court has jurisdiction, since Afghanistan is party to theRome Statute, and that the preliminary examination showed "reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes had been committed in Afghanistan".[3]
In April 2019, theUnited States (US) cancelled Bensouda's visa in response to the ICC investigation in Afghanistan, on the grounds that the US does not wish claims of war crimes by US military personnel to be investigated by the ICC.[6]
On 11 June 2020,US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo announced the signing ofExecutive Order 13928 by US PresidentDonald Trump,[7] establishing economic sanctions and visa travel restrictions against ICC lawyers and investigators as well as journalists providing evidence of war crimes by US citizens and military troops.[8]Pompeo claimed that the ICC is akangaroo court.[9]
On 2 September 2020, Bensouda andPhakiso Mochochoko,Head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division of the ICC, had sanctions imposed on them by theUnited States in response to the ICC investigation in Afghanistan. Richard Dicker ofHuman Rights Watch criticised the imposition of sanctions, stating that they "[mark] a stunning perversion of US sanctions, devised to penalize rights abusers and kleptocrats, to persecute those tasked with prosecuting international crimes".[10]
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On 23 January 2025, ICC ProsecutorKarim Khan announced that his office had filed two requests for arrest warrants for two seniorTaliban officials, namely the Supreme Leader of the organizationHibatullah Akhundzada, and the Chief Justice of AfghanistanAbdul Hakim Haqqani. The two are charged with one count of crime against humanity, specifically the crime of persecution on gender grounds as it relates to the Taliban'spolicies towards women and girls, as well as members of the Afghan LGBTQI+ community. Per the prosecutor's statement, his office believes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani "bear individual criminal responsibility" for the alleged crime.[4][11] On 8 July 2025,Pre-Trial Chamber II issued the arrest warrants.[5]
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