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The US and the Taliban signed a historic peace deal on Saturday under the auspices of Qatar, after months of negotiations in Doha to end the US’ longest war fought in Afghanistan since 2001.The agreement, signed by US special evoy Zalmay Khalilzada and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar , will pave the way for the US to gradually withdraw its troops from Afghanistan with in 14 months. The agreement was signed in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Dr Khalid bin Mohammed al Attiyah , Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affair's Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu , a number of foreign ministers, representatives of various governments.
The four main points of the agreement are — a timeline of 14 months for the with drawal of all US ad NATO troops from Afghanistan; a Taliban guarantee that Afghan soil will not be used as a launch pad that would threaten the security of the US; the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations by March 10 ; and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire. Mullah Abdul Ghani expressed his gratitude to the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani for facilitating the peace process.
“The agreement was a positive step in the interest of Afghans and the world. Th e Taliban are committed to the implementation of the agreement,” he said.“Th e Afghans will now have a sigh of relief and begin a prosperous life under the shadow of an Islamiamic system after the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan ,” h e added. The US Secretary of State said, “I know there will be a temptation to declare victory, but victory for Afghans will only be achieved when they can live in peace and prosper .”
Doha, 27 March 2020
The Corona-virus Pandemic has spread to around 176 countries and territories, with the worldwide death toll from the virus surpassing the 24,000 mark on March 27.
Over 542,000 cases are recorded globally diagnosed in Corona-virus include government officials, celebrities and sports personalities as authorities around the world grapple to contain the spread of the virus. Among them include Boris Johnson, British Prime Minister; Prince Charles, Crown Prince of UK, Massoumeh Ebtekar, Vice President of Iran, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and his wife, actress and singer Rita Wilson, British actor Idris Elba, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, wife of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Monaco's Prince Albert II, and Begona Gomez, wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Here is a list of some of the world leaders, politicians, and senior officials who have contracted the virus. This list is updated every weekday, but, due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus, it is not exhaustive.
Australia
Peter Dutton, Australian home affairs minister, was found to have the coronavirus after being admitted to a hospital. He had recently returned from Washington, where he met with Attorney General William Barr, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, and other White House officials.
Susan McDonald, Senator, Liberal National Party in Queensland, is the second federal official in Australia to have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Andrew Bragg, Senator, Liberal Party of Australia from New South Wales, who traced his contraction of the coronavirus back to a wedding he attended on March 6 where at least six guests also tested positive. Bragg told Sky News he called multiple people to warn them when he found out he had the coronavirus, “All those people have been notified now. Very unpleasant phone calls to make.” Three other members of parliament he may have come into contact with have since quarantined themselves.
Brazil
Fabio Wajngarten, Press Secretary of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, tested positive for the coronavirus just days after attending a dinner hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The Brazilian president announced on March 13 that he had tested negative for the virus.
Augusto Heleno, Brazil’s national security advisor, announced on Twitter that he had tested positive for the coronavirus despite showing no symptoms.
Davi Alcolumbre, Head of Brazil’s Senate, has also tested positive for coronavirus and has criticized the country’s President Jair Bolsonaro for his slow response to the pandemic. Bolsonaro has been slow to close public spaces and events, and he has accused the media of blowing the pandemic out of proportion, which has worried many in the country that the government will act too slowly to stop an outbreak.
Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for the coronavirus last week, shortly after returning from a trip to the United Kingdom. She and her husband went into a 14-day period of self-isolation.
European Union
Michel Barnier, European Union’s Chief Negotiator for Brexit, announced via video message from his home in France that he has the COVID-19 respiratory illness that the coronavirus has been known to cause. Barnier last met the British Brexit negotiator, David Frost, in the first week of March, when the two attempted to reach an agreement on British-EU cooperation on everything from trade to security.
France
Minister of Culture Franck Riester was diagnosed with the coronavirus earlier in March, becoming the first French government minister to contract the virus.
Brune Poirson, the Secretary to the Minister of Ecological and Inclusive Transition, has tested positive for coronavirus. Several lawmakers from the French National Assembly have also contracted the virus.
Germany
The politician Friedrich Merz, one of the leading candidates to take up the helm of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party, has tested positive for the coronavirus. In a statement posted on Twitter, Merz said that his symptoms were mild to moderate.
Iran
Iran has been one of the countries hardest-hit by the coronavirus, and the virus has spread rapidly among the country’s political elite and religious figures. According to the Jerusalem Post, at least 24 members of parliament have contracted the virus, and two have died: Fatemeh Rahbar, from Tehran, and Mohammad Ali Ramezani, from Gilan.
• Masoumeh Ebtekar, vice president for women and family affairs
• Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign-policy advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei
• Fatemeh Rahbar, member of parliament, Tehran
• Mohammad Ali Ramezani, member of parliament, Gilan
• Mojtaba Rahmanzadeh, local mayor of Tehran’s District 13
• Mahmoud Sadeghi, member of parliament, Tehran
• Mohammad Reza Ghadir, director of Qom’s state medical university and head of coronavirus management in the city
• Pirhossein Kolivand, director of Iran’s emergency medical services
• Eshaq Jahangiri, above, first vice president
• Ismail Najjar, chief of Iran’s Crisis Management Organization
• Mostafa Pourmohammadi, former minister of justice and minister of the interior
• Reza Rahmani, Minister of Industry, Mines and Business (has since recovered from the virus)
• Ali Asghar Mounesan, minister of cultural heritage, handicrafts, and tourism
• Reza Salehi Amiri, president of the National Olympic Committee of Iran
• Mojtaba Zonnour, chairman of parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee
• Masoumeh Aghapour Alishahi, member of parliament from East Azerbaijan province
• Zohreh Elahian, member of parliament from Tehran
Israel
Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, tested positive for the coronavirus and according to Al-Jazeera was reported to have contracted the virus after a meeting with a deputy from the German legislature. The deputy’s name has not been revealed yet.
Italy
Nicola Zingaretti, Head of the Italian Democratic Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, became the first leading politician in Italy to test positive for the virus.
Roberto Stella, President of the Order of Doctors in Varese in the Lombardy region, the epicenter of Italy’s outbreak, died at age 67 of respiratory failure after contracting the coronavirus.
Giorgio Valoti, Mayor of Cene, a municipality in Italy’s most affected region of Lombardy, died at age 70 on March 13 from complications due to the coronavirus.
Monaco
The Palace of Monaco has announced March 19 that Prince Albert, the country’s reigning monarch, has tested positive for the corona-virus. In an address made the day before, the prince had announced total isolation in the country as an attempt to lessen the spread of COVID-19.
Norway
Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, Norwegian Minister of Labor and Social Inclusion, tested positive for the corona-virus after his deputy was confirmed as having the virus.
Pakistan
Provincial Education Minister from Sindh (Pakistan), Saeed Ghani confirmed the news in a video message on his twitter account and said that he had gone in to self-isolation. He announced on Monday 23 March 2020.
Philippines
Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senator, became the first Filipino official to test positive for the corona-virus on March 16.
Poland
Gen. Jaroslaw Mika, the General Commander of Poland’s Armed Forces, tested positive for the corona-virus after returning from a military conference in Germany, which was also attended by top U.S. Army Europe leaders. He is now in self-isolation.
Michal Wos, Poland’s Environment Minister, announced in a tweet that he had tested positive for coronavirus.
Spain
Begoña Gómez, the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, has tested positive for the corona-virus and is now quarantining with her husband in their residence in La Moncloa Palace in Madrid.
Irene Montero, Spain’s Equality Minister, was the first of Spain’s cabinet to test positive for the corona-virus and has been quarantined along with her partner Pablo Iglesias, deputy prime minister and leader of the Podemos party.
Javier Ortega Smith, the Secretary-General of the far-right Vox party, tested positive on March 10, causing the lower house of the Spanish parliament to be suspended. All of the party’s members of parliament and their teams went into self-isolation, Politico reported. Santiago Abascal, the leader of the Vox party, also tested positive for the coronavirus.
Quim Torra, the leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia, announced on Monday that he had contracted the virus and was going to self-isolate in a government building.
Pere Aragones, the Catalan deputy head of the government, announced that he had tested positive for the coronavirus one day before Torra confirmed he had COVID-19.
Ukraine
Serhiy Shakhov, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, became the first public figure in the country to announce that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. While he initially denied he had it on March 18, two hours later he posted a video on Facebook announcing that he had contracted it.
United Kingdom
Prince Charles, above, the next in line to the British throne, has tested positive for the corona-virus and is now self-isolating with his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall—who has tested negative—in Scotland. It is unclear how he contracted the virus, because he attended a high number of engagements in recent weeks. According to the New York Times, officials at the palace said that the last time he met with his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was on March 12, and the earliest he could have contracted the virus was the day after.
Health Minister Nadine Dorries became the first British politician to contract the corona-virus. A test later revealed that Dorries had passed on the virus to her 84-year-old mother.
British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has mild symptoms and will self-isolate in Downing Street, after being tested at No 10 by NHS staff. He was diagnosed on Friday 27 March 2020
United Nations
David Beasley, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, announced on March 19 that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, five days after he began exhibiting symptoms and self-quarantined himself. He is now working to notify those he may have been in contact with and plans to continue to work remotely from his home in South Carolina while in self-isolation.
United States
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, above, became the first U.S. senator to test positive for the coronavirus. Other senators and aides have expressed anger at Paul for not self-quarantining sooner after he continued to interact with other U.S. lawmakers despite having attending a black-tie event two weeks earlier in Louisville, Kentucky, of which several attendees have since tested positive.
Florida Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart announced March 18 that he tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first member of the U.S. Congress to contract COVID-19. Later in the day, U.S. Rep. Ben McAdams, a Utah Democrat, announced that he too had a confirmed diagnosis. Both members noticed symptoms on March 15 shortly after they attended a vote on the House floor, a session in which 400 other members of Congress are noted to have attended. Both had been in self-quarantine since then, Diaz-Balart in Washington and McAdams in Utah.
Two members of the New York State Assembly, Helene Weinstein and Charles Barron, have both tested positive for the coronavirus, according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The state’s capitol building and legislative offices were closed for a deep cleaning after the pair were diagnosed.
State Sen. Brandon Beach from Georgia began feeling symptoms of the coronavirus as early as March 10 and has since announced that he tested positive for the virus. His diagnosis caused Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston to call on all 236 Georgia state lawmakers to quarantine themselves after it was revealed that Beach had attended a special legislative session on March 15 while exhibiting symptoms.
Mayor of Miami Francis Suarez tested positive for the coronavirus late last week, and he has been video blogging about his experience on TWitter. His immediate family has tested negative for the virus, according to the South Florida radio station WLRN.
Steven Dick: The deputy head of mission at the British Embassy in Budapest has died after contracting coronavirus, the United Kingdom's Foreign Office said on March 25.
Floyd Cardoz: The Season 3 winner of the United States show Top Chef Masters died on March 25 after testing positive
Manu Dibango: The 86-year-old Cameroonian AFRIO-jAZZ LEGEND died in Paris on March 24, his representative said.
Above article is updated including article by FP dated 18 March 2020 and AlJazeera News 27 March 2020
London (UK), 27 March 2020 (BBC)
Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of United Kingdom (UK) has mild symptoms and will self-isolate in Downing Street, after being tested at No 10 by NHS staff. "He was tested for corona-virus on the personal advice of England's Chief MedicalOofficer, Prof. Chris Whitty," a statement said.
He will still be in charge of the government's handling of the crisis, the statement added.
In a tweet, Mr Johnson said: "Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for coronavirus. I am now self-isolating, but I will continue to lead the government's response via video-conference as we fight this virus.
"Together we will beat this."
Mr Johnson was last seen on Thursday night as he clapped outside No 10 as part of a nationwide gesture to thank NHS staff.
There are more than 11,600 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, and 578 people have died.
It comes after the Prince of Wales also tested positive for the virus earlier this week. Prince Charles, 71, is to be displaying mild symptoms "but otherwise remains in good health", a spokesman said.
Friday 20 March 2020 (Misc. Media Reports)
Global restrictions are dramatically ramping up amid the growing corona-virus outbreak. WHO has confirmed Infection reaches to at least 166 countries and territories.
Data shows the disease is Mild in 80% of the patients, Severe in 13 % and Critical in 6%. In critical case, COVIDF-19 can cause severe pneumonia or a multiple-organ failure and can cause death.
More than 240,000 corona-virus cases have been confirmed across the globe. WHO noted that it took more than three months to reach 100,000 cases worldwide, but only 12 days to log the next 100,000. 8,700 have died, 86,000 have recovered from COVID-19 according to data from Johns Hopkins University in the US.
U.S. cases doubled in just two days surged past 13,000, while the number of deaths hit 200, forcing the state of California to order a state-wide lock down.
while cases in Germany, Iran and Spain rose to more than 15,000 each.
China
China on Thursday said that there had been no cases of domestic coronavirus infections in the country the previous day, for the first time since the outbreak began. All 34 infections diagnosed on Wednesday were in people arriving into China from abroad, the National Health Commission said.
China has 82,007 cases ' 3.248 deaths so far, Eight deaths were reported in the past 24 hours.
France: 10,995 cases, 372 deaths; Turkey: 359 cases, 4 deaths; Germany: 15,320 cases, 44 deaths; India: 197 cases, 4 deaths; Iran: 19,644 cases, 1,433 deaths ; Italy: 41,035, 3405 deaths (Thursday), Highest Worldwide; Japan: 1,668 cases, 40 deaths, A total of 697 people on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Yokohama had tested positive for the virus. Seven people who were on the ship have died. Japan does not include the people on board as part of its national tally, in accordance with the WHO guidance. The national tally is 787 as of March 13, including 14 evacuees from China and 22 deaths;
Nepal: 1 case;
Pakistan: 464 cases 3 deaths;
Qatar: 460 cases; '
South Korea: 8,652 cases, 94 death. South Korean quarantine authorities have opened English and Chinese-language websites that provide information about the country's efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, officials said on Friday;
Spain: 19,980 cases, 1,002 deaths
Switzerland: 4,222 cases, 43 deaths
Philippines: 230 cases, 18 deaths
Saudi Arabia: 274 cases
Turkey: 359 cases, 4 deaths
UK: 3,269 cases, 144 deaths ( The British overseas territory of Gibraltar: 1 case; Guernsey: 1 case; Jersey: 2 cases; and The Cayman Islands: 1 case and 1 death; USA: 13,880 cases, 200 deaths (US Territory of Puerto Rico: 3 cases); UAE: 140 cases
Here are the countries that have so far confirmed corona-virus cases (courtesy - AlJazeera News):
The region of Macau had confirmed 10 cases before they all recovered, while Hong Kong reported 256 confirmed cases, including four deaths, (China's National Health Commission).
The U.S. and countries around the world continued to adapt to the spreading corona-virus pandemic by imposing new restrictions Saturday, as the virus upended travel plans, pushed back elections and forced major companies to adapt.
In Washington, the Trump administration said Saturday that the U.S. would extend the current ban on travel from Europe to include the U.K. and Ireland, effective midnight Monday.
The U.S. travel ban does not apply to American citizens, legal permanent residents, their immediate families, and certain others. These people will be channeled through one of 13 airports equipped to do special screening.
Speaking at the White House, President Trump said he's also considering domestic travel restrictions in response to the spread of coronavirus.
"If you don't have to travel, I wouldn't do it," Trump said. "We want this thing to end. We don't want a lot of people getting infected."
The Trump administration said the number of Americans who have died of the corona-virus now stands at 50, with more than 2,200 cases in the country. It is in nearly every state, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
The president's physician, Sean Conley, said Saturday night that Trump himself tested negative for coronavirus. The results, relayed in a statement from the president's press secretary, come a day after Conley said Trump "remains without symptoms" and testing was not needed. Trump had been in contact with people who later tested positive for corona-virus.
Doha, 15 March 2020 (Govt Communication)
Amir of State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al -Thani has directed the State's officials to provide the necessary services to citizens and residents, foremost to provide safety and protection from the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and to ensure continuing their normal life.
Amir of Qatar presided this morning meeting of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management at the National Command Centre (NCC) to combat Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). They also reviewed the situation in the country and the epidemic impact on Qatar. to determine the efforts made by the competent authorities in the State to prevent this epidemic , as the authorities presented to the Amir "the national executive plan to confront the new Coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
Amir of Qatar stressed the importance of the contribution of all State's departments, including public and private sector, by the competent authorities and the nationals as well as residents of Qatar in order to prevent from the epidemic. He reminded the social responsibility in such circumstances, and that all citizens and residents do their duty to reduce its spread, by applying the preventive measures recommended by the Ministry of Public Health.
Present on the occasion were Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al -Thani, also as the Chairman of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, and members of the Committee, including ministers and concerned senior officials.
As part of the precautionary measures taken by the State of Qatar to limit the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), and as an extension to previous decisions on suspending travel from designated countries, it has been decided to suspend visa on arrival from a number of European countries, effective 15 March and until further notice.
The decision includes suspending entry for citizens of Italy, France, Germany and Spain, as well as all others traveling from these countries. Individuals intending to travel from these four countries who are in possession of a Qatar residence permit are excluded from this decision, provided that they stay in a quarantine facility for 14 days as per the local procedures.
It has also been decided to temporarily suspend entry to the State of Qatar from the Republic of Sudan. This restriction includes those who are in possession of visa on arrival or a Qatar residence permit.
The State of Qatar continues to urge citizens and residents to avoid all but essential travel at this time.
These precautionary measures may be subject to further updates based on the latest guidance of the national health authorities and international organisations regarding the spread of COVID-19, in order to ensure the safety of all residents of the State of Qatar.
Amir of Qatar issued the following directions and procedures :
Eligible people to work from home: Anyone older than 55 years old, pregnant women and people with chronic disease or illness are eligible to work from home.
Qatari students located outside the country: we advise them to adhere to the policies in place in the country of study with the readiness of the country's embassies to provide any of the necessary services, including facilitating the procedures for return to the State of Qatar if the need arises.
Public schools: will start e-learning on March 22, 2020. Students from grades one to eleven will be subject to the continuous evaluation system. As for the twelfth-grade students, they will undergo high school exams on time and at the exams headquarters, which will be announced later. As for students of private schools and universities, they will start studying remotely according to the academic calendar and the evaluation systems approved for them.
H.H. the Amir also directed a number of financial and economic packages:
to support and provide financial and economic incentives amounting to 75 billion Qatari riyals to the private sector.
the Central Bank to put in place the appropriate mechanism to encourage banks to postpone loan installments and obligations of the private sector with a grace period of six months.
directing the Qatar Development Bank to postpone the installments of all borrowers for a period of six months.
Directing government funds to increase their investments in the stock exchange by 10 billion riyals.
The Central Bank to provide additional liquidity to banks operating in the country
Exempting food and medical goods from customs duties for a period of six months, provided that this is reflected in the selling price to the consumer.
6-month of rent relief for industrial facilities
Exempting the following sectors from electricity and water fees for a period of six months: Hospitality and tourism sector, Retail sector, Small and medium industries sector, Commercial complexes in exchange for providing services and exemptions to tenants, Logistics areas
Doha, 14 March 2020
The exit permit (travel notification) for government and semi-government sectors that are not subject to the Labour Law exempting a category (5%) of the employees in the establishment that are determined by the employer in the relevant sectors, will be abolished, with effect from 19 March 2020.
Maj. Abdullah Khalifa Al-Muhannadi, Director, Visa Support Services Department at the General Directorate of Passport, said that, according to this decision, temporary or final exit during the period of valid work contract is permissible without exit permit for the employees in the ministries and other government agencies, public bodies and institutions, workers In the oil and gas sector and its subsidiaries, employees of sea and in territorial waters, workers in agriculture and irrigation, and those working in private offices as well.
He explained that a category (5%) of workers in the establishment will be excluded as they must submit an application with their employer for obtaining a final or temporary exit permit. He pointed out that HR departments have been informed in the relevant sectors to inform them of the required procedures and steps.
The Director of the Visa Support Services Department added that these procedures were activated through Metrash2 and the website of the Ministry of Interior since March 5 to enable the authorities in the relevant sectors to add the employees included in the excluded category before the implementation of the decision begins.
A text message will be sent to those who are included in the category informing the necessity of submitting an application with the employer in case of wishing to leave the country temporarily or permanently.
Olympia (Greece) 12 March 2020, Anadolu News
Greek actress Xanthi Georgiou in the role of the High Priestess lights the torch of the Olympic Flame during the Lighting Ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the Tokyo Summer Olympics, at the Temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia, Greece, on 12 March 2020.
Kabul, 14 March 2020 (AlJazeera News)
The Afghan government has postponed its plan to release Taliban prisoners, a senior official said, a decision that could sabotage a peace deal signed last month between the armed group and the United States.
Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said on Saturday the releases were being delayed because more time was needed to review the list of Taliban prisoners.
"We are ready to start the process the way it is described in the presidential decree but we won't release anyone if there is no guarantee that they will not return to fighting," he said. "The Taliban have to show flexibility."
Earlier this week, President Ashraf Ghani announced that 1,500 Taliban prisoners would be freed as a "gesture of goodwill" in an attempt to resolve one of the long-running disputes that had roiled talks with the armed group.
Ghani's decree said the government would release 1,500 captives starting Saturday if the insurgents cut violence, with plans to free another 3,500 prisoners after negotiations begin.
The Taliban rejected the offer and demanded the release of nearly 5,000 captives, citing it as one of the conditions behind the US-Taliban deal signed last month that excluded Kabul.
According to the US-Taliban agreement signed on February 29, foreign forces will withdraw from the country within 14 months in exchange for Taliban security guarantees and a pledge to hold talks with Kabul.
There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban on the delay in the release, a move that is likely to further stall peace talks which were originally scheduled to begin on March 10.
On Wednesday, the Afghan government warned it would resume attacks against the fighters if violence continued, ending a unilateral partial truce put in place before the talks.
Political chaos in Kabul has complicated matters further, with Afghanistan's former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah also claiming the presidency following last September's election, which was marred by delays and allegations of voter fraud.
On Monday, Abdullah swore himself in as president minutes after Ghani took the oath of office.
Hague, 06 March 2020 (AlJazeera News)
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has authorised an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan, which would include allegations against United States Afghan and Taliban armed fighters.
"The Appeals chamber considers it appropriate to authorise the investigation," said presiding Judge Piotr Hofmanski on Thursday.
The decision, which comes days after the US and the Taliban armed group signed a peace deal, overturns a lower court decision and opens the way for prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to launch a full investigation, despite US government opposition.
The US is not a member of the Hague-based court.
Judge Hofmanski noted that Bensouda's preliminary examination found reasonable grounds to believe war crimes had been committed in Afghanistan which is a member of the court, and that the court has jurisdiction.
Washington rejects the Hague-based court's jurisdiction, and last year, US President Donald Trump's administration imposed travel restrictions and other sanctions on ICC employees.
A pretrial panel last year had rejected Bensouda's 2017 request to open an investigation, arguing that the odds of success were low, given the passage of time, a lack of cooperation from Kabul and Washington, and the panel's conclusion that it would not "serve the interests of justice".
But Hofmanski said Bensouda should proceed and not limit her investigation to preliminary findings, as that would "erroneously inhibit the prosecution's truth-seeking function".
Bensouda believes there are grounds to open an investigation into abuses committed between 2003 and 2014, including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by the US's forces and its spy agency, the CIA.
'Difficult road ahead'
US forces have been fighting the Taliban armed group, which has waged an armed rebellion since it was toppled from power in a US-led military invasion in 2001.
The Trump administration signed a deal with the Taliban, aimed at ending the longest US war, on February 29.
The deal, signed in the Qatari capital Doha, will see the withdrawal of thousands of US troops from the country in return for a guarantee from Taliban that Afghan soil will not be used for attacks on US interests.
But Washington carried out air attack on Taliban fighters on Wednesday after West-backed Afghan forces came under deadly attacks.
The violence has cast a pall on the nascent Afghan peace process, with the Taliban demanding that President Ashraf Ghani government should release nearly 5,000 prisoners agreed as part of the deal.
Ghani's refusal to release the prisoners has angered the Taliban, and likely put the so-called intra-Afghan talks slated for March 10 in jeopardy.
Speaking at a news conference at the US Department of State on Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said all sides should stop posturing and prepare for the intra-Afghan negotiations, including practical discussions about prisoner releases.
"We know that the road ahead will be difficult. We expected it, we were right," Pompeo said.
"The upsurge in violence in parts of Afghanistan over the last couple of days is unacceptable. In no uncertain terms, violence must be reduced immediately for the peace process to move forward,"
The ICC, which began operations in The Hague in 2002, is a court of last resort for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity when committed by nationals of a signatory state, or if they took place on the territory of one of its member states.
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