The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

One of them, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban's supreme leader, and another, Chief Justice Hakim Haqqani, have been accused of abusing women and girls.

The Hague-based ICC court in the Netherlands said on Tuesday that it has "reasonable grounds" to believe that Hibatullah Akhundzada and Abdul Hakim Haqqani have committed crimes against humanity through their oppressive treatment of women and girls since they seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

At that time, they imposed restrictions on girls in various areas, including depriving them of education. They also banned women from working. In Afghanistan, women are even banned from going out without a man and are forbidden from speaking loudly.

However, in response to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant, the Afghan Taliban said they do not recognize the ICC, calling the court's warrant "a clear act of hostility and an insult to the Muslim faithful around the world."

"While the Taliban impose restrictions on the entire population, they target women solely on the basis of their gender and deprive them of their fundamental rights and freedoms," the ICC said in a statement.

The United Nations has previously called these restrictions "gender apartheid," but the Taliban administration says it is protecting women's rights in accordance with Afghan culture and its interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

Hibatullah Akhundzada became the Taliban's supreme leader in 2016 and has led the so-called 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' since the US-led foreign troops left Afghanistan in August 2021. He fought for Islamist groups against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Abdul Hakim Haqqani was a close associate of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and served as the Taliban's chief negotiator in talks with the United States in 2020.