Afghanistan Peace CampaignKarim Khan, the ICC prosecutor, said his office has determined “there are reasonable grounds to believe” that both men “bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds.”
The judges of the court in The Hague will now decide whether to issue the warrants, the first to be sought over the situation in Afghanistan. Khan, a British lawyer, said Thursday that warrant applications for other senior Taliban members would be filed soon.
“These applications recognise that Afghan women and girls as well as the LGBTQI+ community are facing an unprecedented, unconscionable and ongoing persecution by the Taliban,” the prosecutor said in a statement. He added that “persons whom the Taliban perceived as allies of girls and women” have also been targeted.
The Taliban-run Foreign Ministry and the chief government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The application for warrants was the result of a years-long investigation and was widely applauded by human rights groups Thursday. But even if the warrants are issued, they are likely to remain largely symbolic.
Akhundzada and Haqqani have made no known trips abroad in recent years, and Haqqani had already been placed under sanction by the European Union in 2023 for “gender repression.” Many of the countries where Taliban officials are currently able to travel have not signed or ratified the Rome Statute — the ICC’s founding document — meaning they have no obligation to arrest Akhundzada and Haqqani.
Experts say Thursday’s warrant applications represent a landmark effort to pursue gender-based persecution.
Such crimes have “rarely been thoroughly investigated or prosecuted, so this also marks progress in the broader international criminal justice effort, which will, hopefully, provide justice for other victims worldwide,” said Kingsley Abbott, an international criminal and human rights lawyer and a professor at the University of London.
The decision is likely to deepen the international isolation of the Taliban regime, which has not been formally recognized by any government since seizing power in 2021 after the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Some countries have tried to establish diplomatic ties with the regime to solve bilateral issues, but the Taliban’s treatment of women — regarded by human rights experts as unparalleled in its severity and systematic implementation — has significantly hindered further engagement.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump suspended the U.S. refugee admissions program, which halted flights for Afghans who had hoped to resettle in America and left thousands of other applicants in limbo. Many of those seeking refuge are women and girls, who say they have no future in Afghanistan.
The government in Kabul has imposed increasingly repressive measures against women and girls, banning them from secondary and university education and limiting their ability to participate in public life.
Women are barred from parks and are forbidden to undertake long-distance travel without a male relative. Last month, they were banned from pursuing careers as nurses and midwives, which experts warned could exacerbate a mounting health crisis in the country.
The ICC prosecutor said that based on testimonies, forensic reports and public statements, his office found the Taliban leaders to be in violation of the “right to physical integrity and autonomy, to free movement and free expression, to education, to private and family life, and to free assembly.”
The complaint also cited acts of “murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts.”
Taliban officials have said previously that women’s lives have improved under their rule. Akhundzada said in a 2023 audio message that he wants women to live “comfortable” lives.
Behind closed doors, some members of the Taliban government have criticized Akhundzada for the tightening of restrictions on women and girls. But almost none of them have made their reservations public.
Haq Nawaz Khan contributed to this report.