War crimes in Afghanistan, Trump sanctions on persons involved in The Hague investigations

US President Donald Trump approved sanctions against individuals involved in the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes charges by US forces in Afghanistan today.

A senior administration official Trump said, without further details, that the ICC investigation was “encouraged by an organisation of suspicious integrity” and accused Russia of allegedly impacting the investigation.

The decree Trump allows Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in consultation with Finance Minister Steven Mnuchin, to block the assets of ICC employees involved in the ongoing investigation into US territory, the official said.

Pompeii can also stop these people from entering the United States.

Trump has repeatedly criticised the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, which has jurisdiction for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, if a certain member state is not willing or unable to initiate criminal procedures.

Afghanistan is an ICC member, but Kabul argues that war crimes judgments should be held in Afghanistan.

The US is not a member of the ICC, which was established in 2002, and the Trump administration has already imposed restrictions on US entry and other sanctions against ICC employees a year ago.

The ICC launched an investigation after prosecutors decided in 2017 that there were reasonable reasons to claim that crimes were committed in Afghanistan and that the ICC was responsible for those cases.

A senior administration official said sanctions had been adopted against all individuals directly involved in any ICC attempt to investigate members of US forces without Washington's approval.

The official said the investigation was a threat to US sovereignty and that, although the ICC was founded to hold the authors accountable, “in practice is an irresponsible international, inefficient international bureaucracy out of control, threatening American soldiers and intelligence and our allies”.

ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensuda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014, including the mass killings of civilian Taliban, the torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by American forces and CIA “.

“We have reason to believe there is corruption and improper behaviour at the highest levels of the ICC Prosecutor, which questions the integrity of this investigation into American forces. We are concerned that Russia can manipulate the ICC by promoting these claims to American forces,” he said.