Judges at the International Criminal Court have formally closed the part of the prosecutor’s investigation into Afghanistan that could have examined alleged crimes by American troops, court documents show, leaving the court to focus only on the actions of the Taliban since 2021.
The decision, issued on Thursday and made public on Friday, also closes a probe into the Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K) militia. The prosecutor’s office told Reuters on Friday that it had appealed against the decision, but gave no further details.
The line of inquiry into US troops had already lain dormant since 2021. Earlier this year, judges ordered prosecutors to split their Afghanistan inquiries into two separate cases: one focusing on alleged crimes committed by the Taliban since their return to power, and the other on the original investigation, which also looked at alleged war crimes by US forces but had shifted towards ISIS-K.
The judges said they had closed the original case because prosecutors had not shown they would be able to investigate allegations in Afghanistan effectively apart from the Taliban inquiry. The decision is not an exoneration: it makes no finding on whether any alleged crimes occurred, and it does not change the court’s founding statute, under which it can prosecute anyone accused of atrocity crimes committed on the territory of member states.
The separate investigation into the Taliban continues, and the arrest warrants issued against four Afghan Taliban leaders remain in effect. That case covers alleged crimes since the Taliban retook power in August 2021, including crimes against women and girls.
The ruling is the latest step in a long legal tussle between the court’s prosecutors and its judges over the Afghanistan case, and it comes after the United States imposed institutional sanctions on the court, citing American opposition to arrest warrants issued for Israeli officials and to the investigation into US soldiers in Afghanistan. It also follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first major speech since the midterm elections this week, in which he attacked the court.
The original investigation was authorised in March 2020, covering alleged crimes in Afghanistan from May 2003, when the country joined the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court. It examined alleged wrongdoing by Afghan government forces, the Taliban and other armed groups, as well as by US forces.
This account rests on Reuters’ report of the court documents; the prosecutor’s appeal was confirmed to Reuters and the Associated Press.
Sources: Reuters, “Judges close part of ICC Afghanistan investigations that could look at US troops” (https://wncy.com/2026/11/13/judges-close-part-of-icc-afghanistan-investigations-that-could-look-at-us-troops/); Associated Press.
