The International Criminal Court has made public four arrest warrants against Afghanistan's top Taliban leaders, accusing them of crimes against humanity for the systematic persecution of women and girls.
The International Criminal Court on Monday unsealed arrest warrants against four senior Taliban leaders, accusing them of the crime against humanity of gender persecution against women and girls in Afghanistan, the court announced.
The warrants were issued last year but remained under seal until 5 October 2026, when the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber II decided to make them public. The named suspects are the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim.
Warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani were originally issued in July 2025, while those for Agha and Nadim were issued in September 2025. The existence of the first pair had been disclosed at the time, but the documents themselves stayed sealed until Monday.
According to the court, there are reasonable grounds to believe the four suspects are criminally responsible for ordering, inducing or soliciting persecution as a crime against humanity under Article 7(1)(h) of the Rome Statute. The alleged crimes were committed in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power on 15 August 2021 and continued until at least 20 January 2025.
The court said the persecution was carried out on gender grounds against women and girls, as well as other people whose gender expression or identity the Taliban viewed as inconsistent with its policies. It also found grounds to believe that people seen as allies of women and girls were targeted on political grounds.
The ICC said the Taliban authorities had implemented policies that severely restricted fundamental rights and freedoms, including access to education, freedom of movement, freedom of expression and family life. Since returning to power, the Taliban have barred women from most jobs and public spaces and from education beyond sixth grade.
The warrants stem from a request made in January 2025 by the court’s then chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who said the applications recognised that Afghan women and girls faced what he described as an ongoing persecution by the Taliban.
The chamber said it decided to unseal the warrants after concluding that doing so would not unduly affect ongoing investigations, adding that publication could help promote cooperation by the international community. The Associated Press said it had approached the Taliban for a reaction to the announcement.
With the Taliban in control of Afghanistan and the court possessing no police force of its own, the prospect of any of the suspects being arrested remains remote. The unsealing nonetheless places renewed international attention on the rights and freedoms of Afghan women and girls.
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