The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Thursday he had applied for arrest warrants for two Taliban leaders in Afghanistan including supreme spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, accusing them of the persecution of women and girls.

The Taliban claimed the ICC should “not attempt to impose a particular interpretation of human rights on the entire world and ignore the religious and national values of people..."

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