President Trump signed an executive order Thursday authorizing sanctions against officials at the International Criminal Court, following an investigation into whether U.S. troops committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
The court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, announced in 2017 that it would seek authorization to investigate possible war crimes against U.S. troops, the CIA and the Taliban, and in March said it would begin that effort.
The order authorizes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, with help from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to block ICC officials involved in the probe from accessing their U.S. assets. The order also limits visa privileges for those officials.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper argued that the U.S. court system has a more fair and effective system to determine whether a member of the U.S. military committed a war crime and the appropriate punishment.
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