US armed forces and the CIA may have committed war crimes by torturing detainees in Afghanistan, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said in a report.
"Members of US armed forces appear to have subjected at least 61 detained persons to torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity on the territory of Afghanistan between 1 May 2003 and 31 December 2014," according to the report issued on Monday by Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
The report added that CIA operatives may have subjected at least 27 detainees in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania and Lithuania to "torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity and/or rape" between December 2002 and March 2008.
Most of the alleged abuse happened in 2003-2004, and were allegedly part of "approved interrogation techniques in an attempt to extract 'actionable intelligence' from detainees".
Prosecutors said they will decide "imminently" whether to seek authorization to open a full-scale investigation in Afghanistan that could lead to war crimes charges.
State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the US does not believe an ICC investigation is "warranted or appropriate".
"The United States is deeply committed to complying with the law of war, and we have a robust national system of investigation and accountability that more than meets international standards," Trudeau said.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Captain Jeff Davis, said officials were awaiting more details about the ICC findings before commenting.
If an investigation into the US army and the CIA goes ahead, it would be a very significant move by the ICC, according to David Boso who wrote a book about the ICC's role and function in global politics.
"This would be the first time that the ICC has set its sights on US personnel and it does look like they are going to be focusing on the activities of the CIA in Afghanistan in 2003, 2004, which makes it a serious investigation of CIA interrogation practices in the wake of 9/11," he told Al Jazeera.
"The prosecutor in this latest report also signals that she does not have confidence that the national judicial systems are going to do their job and therefore she wants to move forward with the investigation."
Established in 2002, the ICC is the world's first permanent court set up to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
More than 120 countries around the world are members.
Former US President Bill Clinton signed the Rome treaty that established the court on December 31, 2000, but President George W. Bush renounced the signature, citing fears that Americans would be unfairly prosecuted for political reasons.
