Taliban officials denied the International Criminal Court’s authority over the country. The Taliban deemed former administration’s move to be “illegal.” In 2003, Afghanistan ratified the establishment treaty of the Hague-based court.
The ruling comes after a January pronouncement by the head prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The proclamation requested arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the reticent Taliban supreme leader, along with an important aide. They were charged with criminal responsibility for the persecution of Afghan female community.
Less than four years ago, the globally acclaimed Kabul administration was overthrown by the Taliban, who forcibly retook power. With the departure of NATO forces commanded by the United States, the previous government fell in Kabul. After over 20 years of foreign military participation in Afghanistan, the end came soon after a disputed withdrawal of foreign troops from the country.
Afghanistan is currently ruled by the Taliban as “the Islamic Emirate”. They have enforced the Shariah, their stringent understanding of Islamic laws.
They imposed broad limitations on female access to schooling, public positions in society at large, and the people’s right to speech. The Taliban have not been acknowledged as legitimate rulers by any nation. Their severe abuse of Afghan female community is the considered the main cause of the global behavior
In a statement, the Taliban declared that “The Islamic Emirate does acknowledge any obligation to the Rome Statute or the institution known as the ‘International Criminal Court,’ as an entity that safeguards the religious and national values of the Afghan citizens within the context of Islamic Sharia.”
The ICC was charged of political prejudice by the Taliban administration. It also thinks the ICC did not do anything significant to stop the war crimes that were committed in Afghanistan during the recent two decades.
The United States and other Western nations attacked Afghanistan in 2001. The Taliban administration at the time was overthrown by the invasion because it had provided sanctuary to al-Qaida commanders. The terrorist acts that took place in New York in September 11 of that year were attributed to them.
The subsequent Kabul administration, supported by Washington, formally lodged its instrument of membership to the Rome Statute two years later. As a result, it gave the International Criminal Court authority over offenses carried out by Afghan citizens or on the territory of Afghanistan.
In January, the ICC prosecutor said that extensive research had led him to decide to request arrest warrants. The ICC is tasked with making decisions on the most serious crimes in the entire world. The primary offenses designated under ICC jurisdiction are acts of war and crimes against humanity. There is no law enforcement at the court’s access. Its arrest warrants are carried out by 125 member nations.
Akhundzada rarely exits his workplace in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. He uses religious precepts to govern the nation. He has prohibited girls from attending school past the sixth grade.
The Taliban has also barred females from working in the majority of public and private sectors. During his speech in Kandahar this past week, the Taliban leader once more denied complaints against his leadership. It was based on heavenly directives, he said. According to Akhundzada, he consults with experts before issuing any decrees.
