On 23 January 2025, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that his Office had requested arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani. Karim Khan said that Akhundzada and Haqqani “bear criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds, under article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute”.
Below, AW analyses the initial reactions in Afghanistan by news outlets, opposition groups, and official Taliban accounts during the first 24 hours following the announcement.
Afghan news coverage and reactions by international organisations
International and Afghan media widely covered the much-anticipated announcement. This included some of the most prominent Afghan news outlets, such as Amu TV, Afghanistan International, Etilaatroz, Hasht-e-Subh, Tolo News and Rukhshana Media. A number of Afghan media outlets and journalists, however, falsely reported that the ICC had issued arrest warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani already. This was likely due to a misunderstanding of the announcement, rather than a deliberate attempt at disinformation.
The announcement also triggered reactions from various other actors. UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett on X called the announcement a “crucial step by the ICC for accountability in Afghanistan”, a message reiterated in a later joint statement with other senior UN experts..
Official Taliban reactions
On 24 January 2025, the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) published an official statement in Pashto, Farsi, and English on its X account with 72,600 followers, which was widely reshared by major Taliban accounts.
The Ministry called the ICC’s decision “devoid of just legal basis, duplicitous in nature and politically motivated”. The Taliban further accused the ICC of turning a “blind eye to the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by foreign forces and their domestic allies during their twenty-year occupation of Afghanistan”. To conclude, MoFA says the ICC “should end attempts of imposing [sic] a specific interpretation of human rights on the entire world while disregarding the religious & national values of peoples of the world”.
Deputy Interior Ministry Muhammad Nabi Omari, speaking at a graduation ceremony at a jihadi madrassa in Khost on 24 January 2025, claimed that international pressure will not impact Afghans, while accusing the ICC of having political motives.
Reactions by anti-Taliban groups
Armed resistance groups also issued statements. On 23 January 2025, the National Resistance Front (NRF) posted on X that they welcomed the ICC decision and called for its implementation, while urging a wider “boycott of the whole Taliban regime and its main actors”.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF) also posted a statement on X, saying they welcomed “the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants [sic]” and added the ICC must hold the Taliban accountable for other forms of crimes against humanity, in addition to gender persecution.
Anti-Taliban political fronts shared similar statements, welcoming the arrest warrant requests while emphasising that more needs to be done.
Human rights defenders and activists, including former detainees, similarly welcomed the Prosecutor’s announcement. For instance, filmmaker and activist Sahra Karimi congratulated Afghan women and added, “The struggle against the oppressive, tyrannical, and repressive Taliban regime will continue until the complete annihilation of the regime”. The Afghanistan’s Women Protester Movements Coalition also posted a statement, calling the announcement a “great and important achievement”.
Pro-Taliban communications following the ICC’s announcement
AW investigators observed reactions from mid-level Taliban officials and pro-Taliban accounts immediately following the ICC announcement. The first piece of content shared was an older audio clip attributed to Hibatullah Akhundzada, alongside the text:
“The infidels do not desire for Afghanistan and the Afghanistan government to function according to our own independent will; rather, they want it to be governed by their interests. However, we do not follow anyone’s orders or fall under any external influence. We acknowledge Allah as our Lord and submit only to Him”.
The content was widely shared on X by various Taliban officials. The same audio and text in Pashto was also posted by other pro-Taliban users, with at least one post amassing over 300 likes and over 60 reposts.
Most of the posts also included the hashtag #محبوب_زعیم (beloved leader) as a show of support for the Supreme Leader. AW investigators observed the hashtag had been in use sporadically in the past, including as early as December 2023.
AW also observed numerous pro-Taliban users sharing the same text in English in response to the ICC announcement. These posts accused the ICC of only raising “human and humanitarian issues to protect the interests of a few countries”, and claimed that the IEA’s “actions are in accordance with the rulings of Islamic Sharia, which the entire Islamic world believes in”. The message ends by saying that, “The Emirate does not succumb to anyone’s pressure”.
Multiple pro-Taliban users reshared versions of the same content in direct response to the ICC’s original post on X, either by quoting the post or by replying to the original announcement.
Overall, AW observed different types of pro-Taliban communications following ICC’s announcement, varying in content and amount of engagement. The themes appeared to focus on showing support for the Supreme Leader, questioning the credibility of the ICC, and accusations of political bias against the Court, including by raising its supposed indifference to the plight of Gaza. AW also noted that there were very few expressions of support for, or even mentions of, Chief of Justice Haqqani, despite him also being named by the ICC.
Context and the ICC procedures
The ICC Prosecutor was authorised to commence an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan in March 2020. Although the investigation was paused one month later on the request of the previous Afghan government, ICC judges allowed it to resume again in October 2022.
The investigation covers crimes dating back to May 2003, when Afghanistan first acceded to the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Prosecutor has indicated that the investigation will primarily focus on crimes by the Taliban, affiliated groups and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), while deprioritising crimes by the former Afghan National Security Forces and international troops.
In addition, on 28 November 2024, six states (Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, France, Luxembourg, and Mexico) officially requested the Prosecutor to consider the crimes committed against women and girls under the Taliban as part of his investigation.
The Prosecutor issued requests for arrest warrants against Akhundzada and Haqqani for gender persecution, a crime against humanity enshrined in the Rome Statute. It was notable that, in addition to the situation of women and girls, the Prosecutor also stressed the Taliban’s violations against the LGBTIQ+ community were also covered under this crime. The warrants must now be reviewed and approved by the Court’s Pre-Trial Chamber II before they can be issued. If issued, it is the responsibility of other State Parties to the Rome Statute to execute the warrants.
Possible intra-Taliban tensions following ICC’s announcement
It has been widely speculated that the ICC arrest warrant could fuel tensions between the more moderate Taliban leadership in Kabul and the hardline circle around the Supreme Leader in Kandahar. The announcement could push Kabul-based Taliban leaders to push for an ease of restrictions on women’s rights, in order to counter Afghanistan’s increasing international isolation.
Local sources told 8am Media that following the announcement, Akhundzada had relocated to an unknown location, while security had been beefed up in Kandahar City. AW was, however, unable to verify these claims.
Other recent developments have highlighted similar tensions between hardliners and moderates. On 18 January 2025, several Taliban figures, including Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Biradar, Deputy Foreign Minister Shir Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, and others, stressed the importance of modern education and the need for both men and women to get an education. This was the largest group of Taliban members so far to speak in support of education for both genders. [Note: On 26 January, it was reported Deputy Foreign Minister Stanikzai had ‘fled’ Afghanistan after the Supreme Leader issued an arrest warrant over Stanikzai’s dissent.
Remarks
Following the ICC Prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants of Akhundzada and Haqqani on 23 January 2025, various groups voiced support or opposition to the decision on social media. Whilst armed opposition groups such as the NRF and AFF – alongside independent journalists and human rights activists – lauded the announcement, pro-Taliban actors reacted defiantly. AW observed various pro-Taliban content being shared within the first 24 hours following the ICC’s announcement.
The main themes appeared to be a show of support for the IEA, questioning the credibility of the ICC, and accusing the Court of bias, in particular by supposedly ignoring the plight of Gazans. Notably, most pro-Taliban content focused only on the Supreme Leader, while failing to mention Chief Justice Haqqani.
AW also noted that Taliban responses were more measured than in the past. AW did not observe appeals to violence from either official Taliban accounts of other pro-Taliban users on X. On the contrary, responses were largely relatively moderate, possibly in an effort to portray the Taliban as a legitimate government and their supporters as more than mere “terrorists”.