Afghanistan joining ICC's Rome Statute legally void: Taliban administration

ISTANBUL

The interim Taliban administration Thursday called Afghanistan joining the Rome Statue “devoid of legal validity,” adding that it has no legal obligation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The statement came after Karim Khan, the ICC chief prosecutor, last month sought two arrest warrants for Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Afghanistan’s interim chief justice.

But the interim administration rejected the move, calling it “politically motivated.”

The Rome Statute is the 1998 treaty that established the ICC. Some 125 nation states are party to the statute.

After Afghanistan was invaded by foreign forces in 2001, the Western-backed administration in 2003 joined the Rome Statute.

But Taliban deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said on X: “In numerous countries, including Afghanistan, millions of innocent civilians – predominantly women and children – have suffered oppression and been subjected to acts of violence. However, this ‘court’ has conspicuously failed to address these egregious injustices.”

Khan’s office said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Haqqani “bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds,” saying these Taliban leaders were likely “criminally responsible for persecuting Afghan girls and women.”

However, Fitrat said the ICC has “undertaken no substantive measures against the war crimes perpetrated in Afghanistan by occupying forces and their allies.”

“These transgressions include the wholesale destruction of villages, educational institutions, mosques, hospitals, and wedding ceremonies. Thousands of women, children, elderly individuals, and even prisoners in captivity have been martyred, yet this ‘court’ has neither initiated investigations nor sought to prevent these acts of oppression,” he said.

He pointed out many of the world's “major powers are not signatories to this ‘court’” — perhaps most notably the US, which led the 2001 invasion — adding that it is “unwarranted for a nation such as Afghanistan which has historically endured foreign occupation and colonial subjugation to be bound by its jurisdiction.”

The Taliban returned to power in August 2021 after the ouster of foreign forces from the war-torn nation, and subsequent meltdown of the Western-backed administration.