DIPLOMATIC TIMES

International Criminal Court Under Fire For Daring To Investigate Alleged U.S. War Crimes in Afghanistan

Source: Wikipedia Commons / US troops in Afghanistan

In November 2017, the prosecutor of the ICC requested judges to authorize an unprecedented investigation in Afghanistan into allegations including rape and torture by the U.S. military and CIA, crimes against humanity by the Taliban and war crimes by Afghan security forces. ICC Prosecutor Bensouda announced last year she had asked the Hague-based war crimes tribunal to look into the allegations. Bensouda’s request is remarkable because it is the first time the ICC has gone after Americans for alleged war crimes. The probe would focus solely upon war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed since May 1, 2003 on the territory of Afghanistan as well as war crimes closely linked to the situation in Afghanistan allegedly committed since July 1 July 2002 on the territory of other States Parties to the Rome Statute. The Court, established in 2002, has no jurisdiction respecting crimes alleged to have been committed before those cut-off dates. Bensouda, stated in a report last year, that the U.S. military and the CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing detainees in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014. Members of U.S. armed forces and the CIA could be held responsible for acts committed at secret detention centers located in Lithuania, Poland and Romania as well as on Afghan territory. According to Bensouda’s report, U.S. personnel have inflicted “torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and/or rape” upon dozens of detainees.