The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan on charges of committing gender-based persecution against women and girls. The court said in a statement that since regaining control of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have “specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms.” Women and girls have essentially been erased from public life in Afghanistan, including a Taliban-enforced ban on girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade. The Taliban quickly rejected the arrest warrants issued against Taliban supreme leader Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, Afghanistan’s top justice official.