The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court is seeking approval to investigate allegations of war crimes in Afghanistan, including possible torture by US forces and the CIA.

If authorised, the investigation would also look at crimes allegedly committed by armed opposition groups, such as the Taliban, and Afghan government forces.

The ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a report last year that the US military and the CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing detainees in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014.

Her request comes after an unusually long preliminary process, which has dragged on for 10 years because of a lack of capacity at the court as well as lobbying from the Afghan government, which tried to block it. The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, met with Bensouda as late as September during the UN general assembly.

“For decades, the people of Afghanistan have endured the scourge of armed conflict,” Bensouda said. “Following a meticulous preliminary examination of the situation, I have come to the conclusion that all legal criteria required under the [ICC’s] Rome statute to commence an investigation have been met.”

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