Morocco is attending the 20th Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is being place in The Hague from December 6 to 11.

The Kingdom is represented at this session as an observer by a delegation led by the Moroccan Ambassador to The Hague, Abdelouahab Bellouki.

The Assembly of States Parties is the International Criminal Court’s main administrative and legislative body. It is made up of delegates from governments that have accepted the Rome Statute, as well as observer states, invited states, international and regional organizations, and civil society representatives.

The Assembly has a Bureau that consists of a president, two vice presidents, and 18 members who are chosen for three years while keeping in mind the ideals of equitable geographical distribution and adequate representation of the major extant legal systems.

The Assembly of States Parties decides on various subjects, such as the adoption of normative texts and the budget, as well as the election of Judges, the Prosecutor or his Deputies.

The 20th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, chaired by Argentinian lawyer Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, shall elect two Deputy Prosecutors, following the election of the new Prosecutor, Britain’s Karim Khan, earlier this year.

It is also anticipated to accept the Court’s yearly budget, which has been growing at a near-zero rate since 2017, as the gap between the International Criminal Court’s workload and the resources at its disposal increases.

Eventually, the 20th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to consider an in-depth report on the Court’s operation and performance prepared by independent experts.

Over the past year, the Court’s member states, with the support of civil society organizations, have begun to evaluate almost 400 suggestions contained in the report. The Assembly is likely to take notice of the progress made and pass a resolution requesting that the report be reconsidered next year.

The International Criminal Court investigates and, where necessary, judges’ persons accused of the most heinous crimes that affect the entire international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression.

Since 2003, the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor has been investigating a number of cases that fall under the Court’s jurisdiction, including those in Afghanistan, Bangladesh / Myanmar, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Darfur (Sudan), Georgia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Uganda, Palestine, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Venezuela.

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According to a press release issued today, His Excellency Mr. Hamid Asghar Khan, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco, briefed African Envoys, Academics, and Members of the Press on Pakistan’s viewpoint and contributions to the developing situation in Afghanistan.

The Ambassador made his fourth presentation today as part of the Embassy’s proactive outreach to major interlocutors and opinion makers, in which he underlined Pakistan’s role as a four-decade host for up to 4 million Afghan refugees dispersed over 54 refugee camps.

Thus, the Ambassador detailed Pakistan’s participation and facilitation of the evacuation of diplomats, media personnel, and other aid workers, which was warmly praised.

Ambassador Hamid Asghar Khan also stated that Pakistan’s and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s oft-stated position that there was no military solution to the Afghan situation had been fully vindicated, and that President Biden had explained in detail the reasons for the Ghani regime’s demise, including corruption, non-inclusion of the Taliban, and malfeasance.

The Ambassador noted that Pakistan was working with important neighbors and international partners to build mutual understanding in order to facilitate the formation of an inclusive Afghan government as soon as possible.

Pakistan As a responsible member of the international community and the most impacted neighbor will continue to support the new Afghan administration in pursuing peace and development on the path to prosperity and play a positive role in good faith in order to foster effective communication and understanding in order to deal effectively with the changing situation.

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Yesterday, a hundred countries stated that they had obtained guarantees from the Taliban that all foreigners and Afghans with visas would be permitted to leave Afghanistan, under an agreement that would last until the conclusion of the upcoming American pullout on Tuesday.

“We have obtained guarantees from the Taliban that every foreigner and Afghan citizen with travel authorization given by our States would be permitted to move securely and methodically to the ports of departure and to exit the country,” the US, Germany, France, and the UK stated.

“We all commit to ensure that our citizens, including residents, Afghan personnel who have worked with us, and those in danger, are allowed to freely move out of Afghanistan,” the joint declaration stated.

States confirmed that “certain Afghans would continue to get travel passports,” noting that they had “Taliban commitments (ensuring) their ability to travel to all of our States.”

“We have taken notice of the Taliban’s public comments confirming this understanding,” the declaration continues, which was also signed by the European Union and NATO.

The document was not signed by China or Russia.

American citizens who want to stay in Afghanistan, according to White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, “shall not be trapped in Afghanistan.”

“If they want to return in the future, we’ll make sure there’s a procedure to get them out of the country,” he said, adding that “the Taliban have promises in this respect.”

According to French President Emmanuel Macron, who told “Le Journal du Dimanche” that the plan is “completely verifiable,” France and the United Kingdom want to ask the United Nations for a safe zone that will allow humanitarian operations to continue.

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The Taliban announced on Sunday that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan will be declared shortly from the presidential palace in Kabul.

According to the American “Associated Press”, a Taliban official said, “the movement will soon declare the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan from the presidential palace in the capital Kabul.”

This came after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s departure from the country, which coincided with the Taliban’s advance into Kabul, according to local officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Abdullah Abdullah, the Chairman of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, confirmed that “Ghani has already left the country.”

“The former Afghan president escaped Afghanistan, leaving the country in such a terrible condition,” Abdullah added.

Following the withdrawal of security troops from Kabul, Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said Sunday that parts of his organization had begun to seize control of the city and its government buildings.

Mujahid stated that the movement aims to peacefully extend its authority over the capital and will not use force to do so.

He stated that sections of the Movement will maintain security in Kabul to avoid looting and theft, emphasizing that citizens’ houses would notl be jeopardized.

Despite billions of dollars spent by the US and NATO over almost two decades to develop Afghan security forces, the Taliban have captured practically all of Afghanistan in just over a week.

The Taliban has been expanding its power in Afghanistan since May, coinciding with the commencement of the final phase of American troop withdrawal, which is set to end on August 31.

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The Afghan military’s disintegration was initially seen months ago, in the form of a series of setbacks that began even before President Joe Biden’s declaration that the US would depart by September 11th.
Surrenders appear to be occurring as quickly as the Taliban can travel.
Under the strain of a Taliban assault that began in May, Afghan security forces have crumbled in more than 15 cities in the last few days. Officials confirmed on Friday that two of the country’s most significant provincial capitals, Kandahar and Herat, were among those targeted.
The Taliban have displayed millions of dollars of US-supplied equipment on shaky smartphone recordings as a result of the quick onslaught, which has resulted in mass surrenders, seized helicopters, and captured millions of dollars of US-supplied equipment. Heavy combat had been going on on the outside of several cities for weeks, but the Taliban eventually overcame their defensive lines and strolled in with little or no opposition.
Despite the fact that the US has spent more than $83 billion on guns, equipment, and training for the country’s security forces over the last two decades, the country’s security forces have imploded.
Building the Afghan security apparatus was a crucial component of the Obama administration’s strategy when it was trying to figure out how to take over security and leave Afghanistan over a decade ago. These efforts resulted in the creation of an army fashioned after the US military, an Afghan institution that was to outlive the American war.
However, it will most certainly vanish before the United States.
While Afghanistan’s future appears to be becoming increasingly uncertain, one thing is becoming abundantly clear: the United States’ 20-year effort to rebuild Afghanistan’s military into a robust and independent fighting force has failed, and that failure is now being played out in real time as the country falls under Taliban control.
The Afghan military’s disintegration was initially seen months ago, in the form of a series of setbacks that began even before President Joe Biden’s declaration that the US would depart by September 11th.
It started with isolated outposts in rural areas, where starving and ammunition-depleted soldiers and police units were surrounded by Taliban fighters and promised safe passage if they surrendered and left their equipment behind, gradually handing over control of roads, then entire districts, to the insurgents. As positions fell apart, the most common criticism was that there was no air assistance or that supplies and food had run out.
But even before that, the structural vulnerabilities of the Afghan security force — which on paper numbered about 300,000 personnel but, according to US officials, have shrunk to approximately one-sixth of that in recent days. These inadequacies may be attributed to a slew of difficulties stemming from the West’s emphasis on constructing a fully modern military, along with all the logistical and supply challenges that entails, which has proven unsustainable without the US and its NATO allies.
Soldiers and police officers have indicated growing dissatisfaction with the Afghan administration. Officials frequently turned a blind eye to what was going on, well aware that the Afghan forces’ true personnel count was considerably lower than what was on the books, distorted by corruption and concealment that they silently tolerated.
And, when the US announced its exit, the Taliban gained momentum, reinforcing the idea that fighting in the security forces — fighting for President Ashraf Ghani’s administration — was not worth dying for. Soldiers and police officers reported times of anguish and desertion in interview after interview.
Last week, the Afghan security forces’ seeming failure to stave off the Taliban’s catastrophic onslaught came down to potatoes on one front line in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.
After weeks of battle, a police unit’s daily meals were meant to be one cardboard box full of slimy potatoes. They hadn’t eaten anything except spuds in various varieties for many days, and hunger and exhaustion were getting to them.

“These French fries are not going to hold these front lines!” a police officer yelled, disgusted by the lack of support they were receiving in the country’s second-largest city.
“They’re just trying to finish us off,” said Abdulhai, 45, a police chief who was holding Kandahar’s northern front line last week.
Since 2001, Afghan security forces have lost well over 60,000 men. But Abdulhai was not referring to the Taliban; rather, he was referring to his own administration, which he thought was so incompetent that it had to be part of a larger scheme to hand over territory to the Taliban.
The months of setbacks seemed to come to a climax on Wednesday, when the Taliban captured the whole headquarters of an Afghan army corps — the 217th — at Kunduz’s airport. A decommissioned helicopter gunship was taken by the rebels. Photographs of a US-supplied drone seized by the Taliban, as well as images showing rows of armored vehicles, circulated on the internet.
Brig. Gen. Abbas Tawakoli, commander of the 217th Afghan Army corps, who was in a nearby province when his base fell, echoed Abdulhai’s sentiments as reasons for his troops’ defeat on the battlefield.
“Unfortunately, knowingly and unknowingly, a number of Parliament members and politicians fanned the flame started by the enemy,” Tawakoli said, just hours after the Taliban had posted videos of their fighters looting the general’s sprawling base.
“No region fell as a result of the war, but as a result of the psychological war,” he said.
That psychological battle has been waged on several fronts.
Afghan pilots claim that their leadership is more concerned with the condition of the planes than with the people who fly them: men and at least one woman who are exhausted from countless missions evacuating outposts, often under fire, all while the Taliban wage a brutal assassination campaign against them.
The elite commando soldiers that remain are shuttled from one region to the next, with no defined purpose and little sleep.
Nearly all of the ethnically affiliated militia organizations that have gained notoriety as forces capable of bolstering government lines have been overrun.
Sheberghan, in Afghanistan’s north, was the second city to fall this week, a capital that was meant to be guarded by a powerful army led by Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, an infamous warlord and former Afghan vice president who has survived 40 years of conflict by striking deals and switching sides.
Another warlord, Mohammad Ismail Khan, a prominent Afghan warlord and former governor, surrendered to the Taliban on Friday. Khan had resisted Taliban attacks in western Afghanistan for weeks and rallied many to his cause to push back the insurgent offensive.
“We are drowning in corruption,” said Abdul Haleem, 38, a police officer on the Kandahar front line earlier this month. His special operations unit was at half strength — 15 out of 30 people — and several of his comrades who remained on the front were there because their villages had been captured.
“How are we supposed to defeat the Taliban with this amount of ammunition?” he said. The heavy machine gun, for which his unit had very few bullets, broke later that night.
As of Thursday, it was unclear if Haleem was still alive and what remained of his comrades.

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