Around 200 Taliban supporters gathered in Ghazni, central Afghanistan, on Sunday to protest the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) request for arrest warrants against two top Taliban leaders. The protest followed Thursday’s announcement that ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan had sought warrants for the arrest of Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, accusing them of persecuting women.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, the group has imposed numerous restrictions on women and girls, which the United Nations has condemned as “gender apartheid.”
Protesters in Ghazni expressed strong opposition to the ICC’s actions, chanting slogans such as “Death to America” and “Long live the Islamic Emirate,” referring to the Taliban’s governing title. Ghazni resident Noorulhaq Omar stated, “We have gathered here to show the West that their decision is cruel and rejected by Afghans,” adding that the Afghan people would “sacrifice their life for their emir”—a reference to Akhundzada.
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Hamidullah Nisar, the head of Ghazni’s Information and Culture Department, also participated in the demonstration, declaring, “We totally reject what the ICC has said against the leadership of the Islamic Emirate, and we want them to take back their words.”
Since the Taliban’s return to power, most protests have been suppressed, except those supporting the Taliban government. On Friday, Afghanistan’s Taliban administration dismissed the ICC’s request for arrest warrants, calling it “politically motivated.”
Human rights organizations and activists have commended the ICC’s action, viewing it as a step toward accountability for the Taliban’s treatment of women.