International Criminal Court Considers Afghan War Crime Inquiry

The International Criminal Court, ICC, is considering submissions from victims in Afghanistan to assess whether to launch a war crimes inquiry that would seek to prosecute multiple offenders including the Taliban, CIA and Afghan forces.

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Among those named is Afghan Vice-President General Abdul Rashid Dostum, currently exiled in Turkey, the BBC reports. Dostum's political rival Ahmad Eshchi has alleged that he was beaten and sodomized at the behest of the general.

"He told his guards 'Rape him until he bleeds and film it,'" Eshchi told the BBC. "They put a Kalashnikov (rifle) into my anus. I was screaming in pain."

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Fatima blames the Taliban for tearing her life apart. In July 2017, her mother Samara was killed in a Taliban suicide bombing.

"My mother fought against my other relatives and social pressure to let me join a football team and to learn the guitar," she told reporters. "She did so much for me. Now it's my turn to fight for her."

The Bagram detention center and allegations of torture being inflicted within its grounds could also feature in the trial. Set up by the United States, the center was later handed over to Afghan control. Some of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay were also first tortured in Bagram, it has been alleged.

In an interview with the BBC, Reprieve Director Maya Foa said of the allegations: "Russian roulette with guns, men held in stress positions for days… Abuses which destroyed the men both physically and mentally."

If a trial goes ahead, the ICC will examine crimes committed after May 2003, when Afghanistan signed up to the court – a move the United States has yet to undertake.