In response to the request for an arrest warrant for the group’s leader and chief judge of the Supreme Court, the Taliban accused the International Criminal Court (ICC) of double standards.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry said that the request for arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani “lack a fair legal basis” and were “politically motivated”.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry responded almost a day after the ICC’s chief prosecutor announced his request for arrest warrants for Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the ICC prosecutor’s charges “like many other decisions of this institution, lack a fair legal basis, are double standards, and are politically motivated”.

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has charged Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani with crimes against humanity for gender-based violence.

The Taliban’s Foreign Ministry said that it called the charges “baseless” and strongly condemned them.

The Taliban Foreign Ministry wrote on Friday, February 24, that the International Criminal Court had requested the arrest warrant for the group’s senior officials at a time when security in Afghanistan had been established under the group’s administration.

The ministry said that “private prisons, kidnappings, islands of power of warlords and many other tragedies and inhumane acts have disappeared”.

The Taliban accused the International Criminal Court of “turning a blind eye to war crimes and inhumane acts committed by foreign forces and their domestic allies” over the past 20 years.

The Taliban said that the court’s disregard for past incidents in Afghanistan had further weakened the institution’s credibility.

The Taliban Foreign Ministry said that the court should not try to impose its own interpretation of human rights on the world and ignore the religious and national values of other nations.