ICC judges close part of Afghanistan investigation into US troops, ISIS-K

Judges at the International Criminal Court formally closed a branch of the Afghanistan investigation that had previously covered alleged crimes by U.S. troops and the Islamic State Khorasan militia, court documents show. The chamber narrowed the case to actions by the Taliban since 2021, while leaving arrest warrants against four Taliban leaders in force. The office of the prosecutor said it had appealed the decision but did not provide further details. The ruling follows a judicial order this year to split the Afghanistan inquiries into separate tracks.

The evidence trail rests on court filings and the prosecutor’s own statements. Judges said prosecutors had not shown they could effectively investigate allegations in Afghanistan apart from the Taliban-focused probe, a practical reason for closing the broader line. The U.S.-troops inquiry had already lain dormant since 2021, and the remaining split case has shifted toward ISIS-K before being closed. Reuters reported the appeal, but the prosecutor declined to give details, leaving the appellate argument and its timing unconfirmed in the public record.

The closure sits inside a longer legal struggle between the court’s judges and prosecutors, and against a backdrop of American institutional sanctions imposed against the ICC. Washington cited its opposition to arrest warrants for Israeli officials and to scrutiny of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The Rome Statute still says the court can prosecute anyone accused of atrocity crimes committed on the territory of member states, so the decision narrows one case without rewriting the court’s jurisdictional foundation.

The decision affects U.S. nationals, Taliban leaders and victims in Afghanistan because it removes one route for ICC scrutiny of alleged U.S. military crimes while keeping four Taliban arrest warrants active. It also matters to states that have joined the Rome Statute, because the court’s founding treaty continues to allow prosecutions for atrocity crimes committed on member-state territory. Whether the closure is enough to allay American fears over jurisdiction over U.S. nationals remains unclear, as the statute itself is unchanged.