Wednesday, October 7, 2026 - The International Criminal Court has unsealed arrest warrants for four senior Taliban figures over alleged crimes against humanity linked to the persecution of women, girls and people who do not conform to the Taliban’s gender policies.
The warrants concern Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Education Minister Habibullah Agha and Higher Education Minister Neda Mohammad Nadim. The ICC says there are reasonable grounds to believe the suspects ordered, induced or solicited persecution on gender and political grounds in Afghanistan.
The court says the alleged crimes include severe restrictions on education, movement, expression, privacy and family life, as well as conduct connected to murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearance.
The alleged offences cover the period from the Taliban's return to power on August 15, 2021, until at least January 20, 2025. The warrants were actually issued in 2025 but remained sealed until October 5, 2026, when the ICC released further details of the allegations.
The immediate challenge is enforcement: all four men remain at large, while the Taliban rejects the ICC's authority and says Afghanistan does not recognize the court.
Nevertheless, the unsealing puts the Taliban leadership under greater international legal pressure and creates a lasting risk of arrest for the named officials if they travel to a country that is obliged to cooperate with the ICC. For Afghan women and girls facing continuing restrictions, the move also keeps their treatment at the centre of international scrutiny.
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