The requested warrants target Haibatullah Akhundzada, the reclusive Kandahar-based leader of the Taliban, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the group’s chief justice.

Since seizing power in 2021, Afghanistan's Taliban administration has rolled back hard-fought rights won by Afghan women and girls during two decades of rule by American-backed governments. The International Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday said he had applied for arrest warrants for Taliban leaders,