A United Nations meeting in Doha last weekend between Taliban officials and representatives from 22 countries faced widespread criticism as an attempt by governments to normalize relations with the Taliban. Rights activists expressed concern that these types of meetings could undermine the possibility of holding the Taliban accountable for serious human rights violations, including against women and girls.
Alleged crimes by former Afghan government officials and United States security force personnel have also not been subject to formal investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC). When opening the court’s probe in Afghanistan in 2021, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced he would focus on abuses committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan Province armed group and deprioritize investigations into the former government and US forces, raising concerns about double standards in victims’ access to justice.
Last week, some 70 political figures from the former Afghan government met in Vienna to condemn the Doha meeting and call for an inclusive political process. However, they lost moral ground by including in their ranks individuals who themselves should be investigated for serious abuses. They include politicians like Mohammed Mohaqiq, whose militia forces were responsible for massacres and rapes in the early 2000s but who travels freely in Europe without fear of arrest. Also traveling the globe is former defense minister Asadullah Khalid, who has been implicated in the torture of detainees, extrajudicial killings, and rape. He has frequently visited the US and recently obtained a state of Dominica “golden passport.”
The Afghan human rights group Rawadari has called on states to use universal jurisdiction to bring Afghan leaders suspected of serious crimes, whether Taliban or former officials, to justice in countries where they live or travel. Under this legal principle, national courts can pursue cases for serious crimes regardless of where they were committed and the nationality of either perpetrator or victim. A few countries, notably the Netherlands, have done so against human rights abusers in the past.
But as many of those individuals continue to travel freely, more states should act and help break Afghanistan’s longstanding cycle of impunity for grave international crimes.
