The International Criminal Court (ICC) has cleared decks for its prosecutor to investigate possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan, including allegations against the United States as well as Afghan and Taliban armed fighters.
"The Appeals Chamber considers it appropriate to ... authorise the investigation," said presiding Judge Piotr Hofmanski on Thursday.
The announcement comes days after the US and Taliban signed a peace deal. It may be noted that the US is not a member of the Hague-based court, reported Al Jazeera.
The order will allow prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a full investigation, despite US government opposition.
Hofmanski noted that Bensouda found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes had been committed in Afghanistan, which is a member of the court, and that the court has jurisdiction's preliminary examination.
A pretrial court had rejected Bensouda's 2017 request to open a full-fledged an investigation, arguing that the odds of success were low, given the passage of time, a lack of cooperation from Kabul and Washington, and the panel's conclusion that it would not "serve the interests of justice".
Bensouda has contended that there are grounds to open an investigation into abuses committed between 2003 and 2014 including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by the US's forces and its spy agency, the CIA.
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