A RECENT development in the attempt by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open a war crimes probe in Afghanistan has laid bare the inherent weakness of the court against states that it cannot bully.

Agence France Presse reports that the ICC appeared “to have turned tail in front of the political might of the United States as it turned down a request to open a war crimes probe in Afghanistan, apparently deterred by a US strong-armed tactic of revoking the chief prosecutor’s visa.”