The Hague - Prosecutors at the
International Criminal Court will investigate whether war crimes
were committed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, Afghan military
and US forces after an appeals panel said on Thursday the
"truth-seeking" inquiry should go ahead.
The ICC decision, which came days after the United States
agreed to pull its troops from the long-running conflict,
opens the way for prosecutors to launch a full
investigation, despite US government opposition.
"The appeals chamber considers it appropriate to...authorise
the investigation," presiding Judge Piotr Hofmanski said at the
court in The Hague. He said prosecutors' preliminary examination
in 2017 had found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes were
committed in Afghanistan and that the ICC has jurisdiction.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo quickly condemned the
decision as "a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable
political institution, masquerading as a legal body".
"It is all the more reckless for this ruling to come just
days after the United States signed a historic peace deal on
Afghanistan – the best chance for peace in a generation," he
said.
"The United States... will take all necessary measures to
protect our citizens from this renegade, so-called court."
Afghanistan is a member of the ICC, though Kabul has argued
that any war crimes should be prosecuted locally.
The US government has never been a member of the court,
which was established in 2002. US President Donald Trump's
administration imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions
against ICC employees a year ago.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible
crimes committed between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass
killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged
torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser
extent, by U.S. forces and the CIA.
"The many victims of atrocities committed in the context of
the conflict in Afghanistan deserve to finally have justice,"
Bensouda said after the ruling. "Today they are one step
closer."
Uncertain chances
A pre-trial panel last year had rejected her request to open
an investigation. It argued that the odds of success were low,
given the passage of time and the lack of cooperation from Kabul
and Washington, and said that an investigation would not "serve
the interests of justice."
ICC prosecutors' initial examination concluded there was a
"reasonable basis to believe" US forces had committed "crimes
of torture, outrages upon personal dignity and rape and other
forms of sexual violence". The examination cited cases in
Afghanistan as well as at secret Central Intelligence Agency
facilities in Poland, Romania and Lithuania.
Human rights groups welcomed Thursday's ruling.
"Too many ICC states have cooperated with the US to set up
the global torture programme, we now call on these same states
to cooperate with the ICC prosecutor's investigation," said
Katherine Gallagher of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
US forces and other foreign troops entered Afghanistan in
2001 after the Sept. 11 al Qaeda attacks on the United States,
and overthrew the Taliban government, which had been protecting
al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
In what has become the United States' longest war, about
13 000 US troops remain in Afghanistan.
The United States and the Taliban signed an agreement on
Saturday to withdraw thousands of US troops, but Washington
carried out an air strike on Taliban fighters on Wednesday.
The ICC was set up to prosecute war crimes, genocide and
crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction only if a member
state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.