The Taliban government in Afghanistan has rejected the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for its leaders, calling it “politically motivated.”
This statement follows ICC’s chief prosecutor announcing that he is seeking warrants against senior Taliban leaders over the persecution of women, which he described as a crime against humanity.
In its response, the Taliban’s foreign ministry stated that the decision, like many others by the ICC, was “devoid of a fair legal basis, is a matter of double standards, and politically motivated.”
The Taliban also criticized the ICC for ignoring war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by foreign forces and their allies during the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan. They argued that the court should not impose a particular interpretation of human rights while ignoring the religious and national values of people worldwide.
Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Nabi Omari, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, said that the ICC “can’t scare us,” adding that if these were truly fair courts, the United States should be held accountable for causing wars globally.
The ICC has alleged that Taliban leaders, including Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, bear responsibility for the persecution of Afghan women and girls, which has been described as “unprecedented” and “unconscionable.”
The ICC will now review the application before deciding whether to issue arrest warrants, a process that may take weeks or months. The court, based in The Hague, lacks its own police force and relies on member states to enforce its warrants, with mixed success.
