War crimes investigation into US forces in Afghanistan can go ahead, ICC rules

An investigation into alleged war crimes by US and others in the Afghanistan war can go ahead, the International Criminal Court has ruled (ICC).

The US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 in order to dismantle al-Qaeda and deny it a safe base by removing the Taliban from power. The US still has around 13,000 troops based in the country.

The global court upheld an appeal by prosecutors on Thursday, meaning the investigation into war crimes by the US military, the Taliban and Afghan forces has now been authorised.

This follows the rejection of Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request in April last year to open a probe in Afghanistan, despite pretrial judges acknowledging that widespread crimes had taken place.

Both Afghanistan and the US have strongly opposed the investigation.

As such, it remains unclear whether any suspects who are later charged will appear at the court in The Hague.

Read more via The Independent/ICC