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Afghanistan - News according to Justice Info

What is it all about?

Our news in Afghanistan, clear and analytic

Since 1979, justice in Afghanistan has remained neglected. After the withdrawal of the USSR in 1989, the country was marked by a civil war involving various factions, followed by the Taliban's takeover in 1996, which was subsequently ousted by the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks. With the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, they regained control of the country. Since 2003, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has had jurisdiction over the Afghan situation. However, it has been dragging this "situation" for nearly two decades without significant progress. Its new prosecutor, Karim Khan, has "prioritized" his investigation into crimes committed by the Islamic State and the Taliban, despite reports from NGOs highlighting the seriousness of alleged crimes committed by U.S. forces. Furthermore, allegations of war crimes committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan are under investigation in Australia. Justice Info closely monitors developments in the Afghan case, in line with current events and procedures.

British soldiers from the Royal Air Force conduct a patrol outside Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan.
Afghanistan: investigations, a bit of truth but no justice
17 April 2025 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Investigations on war crimes in Afghanistan initiated in the UK, Australia, Netherlands, are producing limited results. To try and find out why, our partners at Asymmetrical Haircuts have invited in this new podcast Iain Overton, Thijs Bouwknegt, Ben Saul, and Rachel Reid.
What justice for the victims in Afghanistan? An Afghan girl stands at the entrance of her house near a destroyed compound, in the old part of Kabul, on April 10, 2010. Why Afghan victims still wait for Australian compensations
6 February 2025 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
In this latest podcast from our partners from Asymmetrical Haircuts, we follow on with a series of episodes on Australia’s investigation into war crimes allegedly committed by its troops in Afghanistan. They discuss and highlight [...]
Official portrait of Major General Jeff Sengelman who led the Australian military operations in Afghanistan. Australia’s war crimes in Afghanistan: “I am one of them”
30 January 2025 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
“It was really ugly, and it continues to be hurtful, but we called ourselves out,” Major General Jeff Sengelman says. Today, we broadcast an exclusive interview with the man who played a key role in creating “the command climate”, [...]
A poster of Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada on a street in Kabul in August 2023. © Wakil Kohsar / AFP ICC: Prosecutor targets Taliban leaders
23 January 2025 by AFP
After the most senior Russian, Israeli, Palestinian and Burmese leaders, it's now the turn of Afghan leaders to be targeted by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Karim Khan is asking the court to issue arres [...]
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Women rights in Afghanistan - Veiled women leave a beauty salon in Kabul, Afghanistan
12 November 2024 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Gender apartheid at the forefront of international justice Gender apartheid is a new frontline of international justice, as Justice Info recently highlighted. The guest in this new episode of our Asymmetrical Haircuts partners, Karima Bennoune, is currently campaigning for this alleged cr [...]
Gender apartheid in Afghanistan - Photo: in Kabul, women demonstrate for their rights in front of a beauty salon threatened with closure.
26 August 2024 by Nilofar Ayoubi
The Taliban’s rule is gender apartheid “In Afghanistan, half the population is deprived of fundamental human rights just because they are women,” says Afghan entrepreneur and activist Nilofar Ayoubi, who was forced to flee her country when the Taliban took it over a se [...]
Gender apartheid for women in Iran and women in Afghanistan - Photo: a woman wearing a hijab walks down a street, closely followed by a Taliban patrol.
20 June 2024 by Julia Crawford
Crimes against Afghan women drive push to recognize “gender apartheid” Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday that violations against women and girls in that country were “so severe and extensive” that “they may amount to crimes against huma [...]
Independent enquiry and commission into the crimes of British Special Forces (SAS) in Afghanistan - Photo: a British soldier carries out a night raid.
10 November 2023 by Julia Crawford
UK military abuses in Afghanistan: SAS in the firing line In London, an independent inquiry into alleged British Special Forces abuses against civilians in Afghanistan has started substantive hearings. The United Kingdom government agreed to the probe at the end of last year, after inten [...]
Ben Roberts-Smith - 3 Australian newspapers named him in allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan.
9 June 2023 by Maxim Shanahan
A first (civil) ruling confirms Australia's war crimes in Afghanistan It's 'just' a civil defamation case, but it has caused thunder in Australia. Soldier Ben Roberts-Smith lost the case against the media accusing him of war crimes in Afghanistan, and to establish this the media had to present evide [...]
Australia's war crimes in Afghanistan - SAS trooper Oliver Schultz arrested
28 March 2023 by Maxim Shanahan
Australia's war crimes in Afghanistan: a high-stakes first arrest In Australia, a first arrest – of a former SAS trooper, Oliver Schultz – in the investigation of alleged war crimes committed by Special Forces in Afghanistan launched two years ago marks a significant development and poses novel [...]
War Crimes in Afghanistan - Article in The Canberra Times (Australia) headlined:
21 November 2022 by Maxim Shanahan
War crimes and press freedom battle in Australia A whistleblower criminal trial and a defamation case involving a high-profile soldier and leading media houses: these are the main justice forums where alleged war crimes by Australian armed forces in Afghanistan are currently bei [...]
Aerial view of Pul-e Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan
25 February 2022 by Thijs Bouwknegt
Afghanistan: Challenges of trying a war crimes veteran in The Hague On Tuesday 22 February, the District Court of The Hague closed its latest universal jurisdiction trial, against an Afghan-Dutch national alleged to have been head of the Pul-e-Charki prison in Kabul in the 1980s. But the trial has [...]
Karim Khan (ICC) delivers a speech
21 October 2021 by Janet Anderson
Afghanistan: a war of positions at the ICC Shortly after his arrival, Karim Khan throws a spanner in the works. A recent statement by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court that his Afghanistan probe will not “prioritise” alleged crimes by United States t [...]
Taliban fighter posing in front of Taliban flags
16 September 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg
Afghanistan: ICC more than ever at a standstill With takeover of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the nearly impossible International Criminal Court investigation into war crimes has taken another blow. What are the options for the new prosecutor Karim Khan in this case where it is [...]
Afghan victim (young boy) wounded, in hospital
15 July 2021 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Afghanistan victims in limbo Twenty years after their invasion, US troops are leaving Afghanistan, and the Talibans are back, controlling 85% of the country already. For the many Afghan victims and rights activists, the situation looks hopeless. From all side [...]
Dutch soldiers fire shells in the Chora region, Afghanistan
13 July 2021 by Stephanie van den Berg
Dutch war crimes in Afghanistan: The Australian trigger An Australian probe has dented the Dutch wall of silence about alleged war crimes in Afghanistan more than ten years ago. Stories from Dutch Afghanistan veterans have begun to surface in the media. It has also boosted a long-runni [...]
4 January 2021 by Julia Crawford
Australia launches unprecedented war crimes probe The new Office of the Special Investigator is to start work on January 4. Its job is to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan. No member of the Australian armed forces has been prosec [...]
17 September 2020 by Ben Saul
Exchanging killers for peace in Afghanistan - questions about a US-made amnesty The terms of the "pax americana" in Afghanistan raise many questions. The Taliban and the United States have pressured the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners it holds. In return, the Taliban pledged to release 1, [...]
5 March 2020 by AFP
The ICC gives green light to Afghanistan investigation Appeals judges of the International Criminal Court have overturned the highly controversial decision of their peers in April 2019 to reject the opening of an investigation in Afghanistan. The investigation, which targets U.S. agen [...]
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