The Supreme Council of National Resistance, emphasizing universal principles of human rights, criminal justice, and human dignity, welcomes the issuance of arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (The Hague) against Hibatullah Akhundzada, leader of the Taliban, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the group’s Chief Justice. This action is considered an important step toward ending the culture of impunity and lack of accountability in Afghanistan.
Over the past four years, the people of Afghanistan have endured one of the darkest periods in their modern history—a time marked by systematic and widespread violations of the fundamental rights of citizens, particularly women, journalists, and civil society activists. Credible reports by international and local institutions point to horrific crimes committed by the Taliban’s leadership structure, particularly its leader and chief justice. These crimes include extrajudicial killings, systematic discrimination, widespread repression, enforced disappearances, and the complete deprivation of women and girls of their human rights.
We call upon the international community—especially the member states of the International Criminal Court, human rights organizations, the European Union, and the United Nations—to fully support this legal and impartial process, and to refrain from any political or diplomatic engagement with a group that has committed crimes against humanity.
The Supreme Council of National Resistance affirms the fundamental link between justice and peace, declaring that without justice, achieving sustainable peace in Afghanistan will remain an illusion. In this path, the role of international institutions—especially the International Criminal Court, the United Nations, and human rights organizations—is vital and decisive in supporting victims’ demands for justice, ensuring accountability, and preventing the recurrence of cycles of violence and impunity.
Justice for victims must be central to any political solution, and ignoring this will only perpetuate the crisis and foster further instability at the national, regional, and international levels.