Pompeo: US will shield troops from war-crimes probe
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday the Trump administration would take “all necessary measures” to shield U.S. military and other personnel from a war-crimes investigation by the International Criminal Court.
The international court, based in the Hague, ruled Thursday that its prosecutors could move forward with an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Taliban, Afghan forces and American military and CIA personnel.
“This is a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution masquerading as a legal body,” Pompeo said. “It is all the more reckless for this ruling to come just days after the United States signed a historic peace deal on Afghanistan, which is the best chance for peace in a generation.”
The agreement signed Saturday by U.S. and Taliban negotiators could end America’s longest war, although renewed violence in Afghanistan threatens to undermine it.
The U.S. launched an airstrike against Taliban forces on Wednesday after the militant Islamic group conducted 43 attacks on Afghan troops. The deadly attacks broke a truce that Taliban and U.S. officials had agreed to last week.
Pompeo acknowledged the peace deal had hit a potential snag, but said he still had confidence in the Taliban’s leaders to fulfill their promises. Under the agreement, the U.S. committed to a timetable for the full withdraw of 13,000 American troops in Afghanistan; in exchange, the Taliban agreed to sever its ties with al-Qaida, the terrorist group that launched the 9/ 11 attacks against the U.S.
“We still have confidence that the Taliban leadership is working to deliver on its commitments. We’re working to deliver on ours,” Pompeo said Thursday.
The court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said there is information that members of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies “committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period.”