Justice for Afghan Women Isn't a Lost Cause If the World Unites

An ICC prosecutor's move signals hope for women facing brutality

- Ruth Pollard is a Bloomberg Opinion managing editor.

For Afghan women, who feel deserted by the international community as their lives have been crushed under the brutal rule of the Taliban, there may finally be a potential avenue for justice. We should welcome International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan's decision to apply for arrest warrants for the Taliban's Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, who he says bear criminal responsibility for the persecution of Afghan women and girls. The list of violations is extensive, and includes murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and enforced disappearances.

Three judges will now decide whether to issue the warrants. Even then, there isn't likely to be any immediate action. Akhundzada rarely leaves his base in Kandahar, and Haqqani is unlikely to risk arrest by traveling abroad. Since the militant group retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, it has banned post-primary education for women and girls, restricted their access to public spaces, prohibited them from singing or reciting poetry in public and severely curtailed their employment opportunities and access to health services.

Last month, the Taliban issued an order banning the construction of windows in residential buildings that overlook areas used by women.