The US ultimately opposed the treaty over concerns the prosecutor would have uncheckedpower and could subject U.S. soldiers and officials to politicisedprosecutions.
The Trump administration took a harder line, angered by then Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s push to investigate U.S. armed forces and CIA personnel for potential war crimes in Afghanistan.
In 2018, then National Security Advisor John Bolton announced that the White House would no longer cooperate with the ICC and would block any efforts to pursue the U.S.
The following year, after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened to revoke the visas of any ICC staff investigating the United States, Bensouda’s U.S. visa was cancelled.
The ICC launched a probe into crimes in Afghanistan in 2020, reversing a previous decision not to investigate the matter
In response, Trump imposedsanctions against individuals associated with the ICC.