Taliban Respond to War Crimes Warrants for Persecuting Women

Newsweek

09-07-2025

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Afghanistan's Taliban have dismissed International Criminal Court warrants for their leader and another top official over the persecution of women, nearly four years after the Islamists' return to power ended two decades of U.S-backed reform.
Newsweek contacted the International Criminal Court for comment.
Why It Matters
The treatment of women under Taliban rule in Afghanistan has been a key factor behind their government's isolation by Western countries since defeating a U.S.-backed government in August 2021, as U.S.-led foreign forces were withdrawing.
Afghan burqa-clad women walk along a road in the Nawabad area of the Dehdadi district in Balkh Province on June 30, 2025.
Afghan burqa-clad women walk along a road in the Nawabad area of the Dehdadi district in Balkh Province on June 30, 2025.
Photo by ATIF ARYAN/AFP via Getty Images
Under Taliban rules, Afghan women are largely barred from work and education beyond primary school. Women can not venture outdoors without a male relative and are barred from parks and gyms. The numerous beauty parlours that sprang up after U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, have all been closed.
Russia last week became the first country to recognize the Taliban government, saying it hoped to develop ties and would offer Afghanistan security cooperation and anti-narcotics support.
What to Know
The ICC issued warrants for the supreme spiritual leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and top justice official Abdul Hakim Haqqani saying there were "reasonable grounds" to suspect them of committing "the crime against humanity of persecution... on gender grounds".
The Taliban said in a statement they did not recognize the ICC and the warrants were an insult to Muslims. A Taliban spokesman said his leaders had established unparalleled justice based on Islamic law and it was hypocritical for the ICC to issue such warrants while the world ignored violence in Gaza.
A Taliban security personnel stands over an armoured tank bearing a Taliban flag, as he keeps guard during a religious procession by Afghan Shiite Muslims celebrating Ashura, on the tenth day of the Islamic holy...
A Taliban security personnel stands over an armoured tank bearing a Taliban flag, as he keeps guard during a religious procession by Afghan Shiite Muslims celebrating Ashura, on the tenth day of the Islamic holy month of Muharram, in Kabul on July 6, 2025. More
Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images
What People are Saying
International Criminal Court: "While the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms."
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid: "The leadership and officials of the Islamic Emirate have established unparalleled justice in Afghanistan based on the sacred laws of Islamic sharia."
Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch: "The international community should fully back the ICC in its critical work in Afghanistan and globally, including through concerted efforts to enforce the court's warrants."
What Happens Next
The ICC are unlikely to be able to implement the warrants. The warrants could discourage some countries considering establishing ties with the Taliban. But for others, the warrants might not be a major factor as they weigh ties with the Taliban, especially after Russia's recognition of the Kabul government.