Judges at the International Criminal Court decided yesterday, Monday that Prosecutor Karim Khan can resume an investigation into atrocities in Afghanistan, which has been delayed for more than two years.
The judges said the investigation could move forward, as Kabul “is not currently conducting substantive investigations” into alleged crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
“The judges considered that Afghanistan is not currently conducting serious investigations that could justify postponing the investigations of the court,” the court statement said.
In early 2020, the ousted Afghan government asked the International Criminal Court – based in The Hague – to suspend its investigation to give Kabul an opportunity to conduct its own investigations.
But the current attorney general, Karim Khan, decided last year to dismiss the United States in the investigation, saying that the “worst crimes” were committed by the Taliban, the Taliban ISIS terrorist organizations.
Human rights organizations criticized Khan’s decision to “deprioritize” the investigation into the crimes committed by US forces.
The International Criminal Court’s investigation into US crimes has long infuriated Washington, prompting the administration of former President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on the body’s former attorney general.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in mid-August of 2021, suicide attacks and bombings targeting cities and minorities, especially Hazara Shias, have increased, and the terrorist “ISIS” organization usually claims responsibility for these attacks.
