International Criminal Court judges consider Afghanistan war crimes inquiry

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are deciding whether to authorise an official war crimes inquiry into events in Afghanistan.
They are due to begin examining written submissions from victims in Afghanistan about whom and what any potential investigation should focus on.
In 2017, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said there was a "reasonable basis to believe" war crimes had been committed.
Possible perpetrators included the Taliban, CIA and Afghan forces.
Warning: some readers may find some of the details below distressing.
The BBC has learnt that one of the most high-ranking officials to be named in the submissions to the court is Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum. Claims of human rights abuses have dogged the current vice-president of Afghanistan for decades.
He is currently in Turkey in de facto exile after one particularly grim allegation.
In late 2016, Ahmad Eshchi, a political rival of Gen Dostum, said he had been beaten and sodomised on his orders.
"He told his guards, 'Rape him until he bleeds and film it'," Mr Eshchi told the BBC. "They put a Kalashnikov [rifle] into my anus. I was screaming in pain."
Gen Dostum refused to appear in court in Afghanistan. In May 2017 he travelled to Turkey for medical treatment. Some analysts believe the Afghan government pressured him to leave.