KABUL – Since the International Criminal Court began collecting materialthree months ago for a possible war crimes case involving Afghanistan, ithas gotten a staggering 1.17 million statements from Afghans who say theywere victims.

The statements include accounts of alleged atrocities not only by groupslike the Taliban and the Islamic State, but also involving Afghan SecurityForces and government-affiliated warlords, the U.S.-led coalition, andforeign and domestic spy agencies, said Abdul Wadood Pedram of the HumanRights and Eradication of Violence Organization.

Based in part on the many statements, ICC judges in The Hague would thenhave to decide whether to seek a war crimeslink>investigation. It’s uncertain whenthat decision will be made.

The statements were collected between Nov. 20, 2017, and Jan. 31, 2018, byorganizations based in Europe and Afghanistan and sent to the ICC, Pedramsaid. Because one statement might include multiple victims and oneorganization might represent thousands of victim statements, the number oflink>Afghanslink> seeking justice from the ICC could beseveral million link> .

“It is shocking there are so many,” Pedram said, noting that in someinstances, whole villages were represented. “It shows how the justicesystem in Afghanistan is not bringing justice for the victims and theirfamilies.”

The ICC did not give details about the victims or those providing theinformation.

“I have the names of the organizations, but because of the security issues,we don’t want to name them because they will be targeted,” said Pedram,whose group is based in Kabul.

Many of the representations include statements involving multiple victims,which could be the result of suicide bombings, targeted killings orairstrikes, he said.

Among those alleging war crimes link> isa man who asked The Associated Press to be identified only by his firstname, Shoaib, because he fears for his safety.

Shoaib said his father, Naimatullah, was on a bus in Dawalat Yar districtin Afghanistan’s central Ghor Province in 2014 when a band of gunmenstopped it and two other buses, forced the passengers off and told them tohand over their identity cards. The 14 Shiites among them were separatedfrom the rest and killed, one by one, he said.

The slayings outraged the country. A Taliban commander was soon arrestedand brought before the media, but no news about a trial or punishment wasever reported, said Shoaib, who is in his 20s.

Displaying a photo of the man he believes killed his father, Shoaib said hedoesn’t go to the authorities for information about the incident becausethe commander had connections with the police and the local governmentadministration.

Shoaib is still afraid.

“Please don’t say where I live, or show my face,” he implored a reporter.“What if they find me? There is no protection in Afghanistan,” he said.

“Everybody knows that they have connection in the government,” he added. “Ithink in Afghanistan, if you have money, then you can give it to anyone,anywhere, to do anything.”

Several powerful warlords, many of whom came to power after the collapse ofthe Taliban in 2001 following the U.S.-led intervention, are among thosealleged to have carried out war crimeslink> , said Pedram, who also iscautious about releasing any names.

After receiving death threats last year, Pedram fled Kabul briefly and nowkeeps a lower profile, no longer speaking to local media.

“The warlords are all here. You have to be very careful,” he said. “In themorning, I kiss my little son goodbye, I kiss my wife goodbye because Idon’t know what will happen to me and when, or if I will see them again.”

Established in 2002, the ICC is the world’s first permanent courtlink> set up to prosecutewar crimeslink> , crimes against humanity andgenocide. The ICC can only investigate any crimes in Afghanistan after May2003, when the country ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty thatestablished thecourt link> .

Former President Bill Clinton signed the treaty, but President George W.Bush renounced the signature, citing fears that Americans would be unfairlyprosecuted for political reasons.

In November, when ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda sought judicialauthorization to begin the investigation, she said the courtlink>had been looking into possible war crimeslink> in Afghanistan since 2006.

Bensouda said in November that “there is a reasonable basis to believe”that crimes against humanity and war crimeslink> were committed by the Taliban aswell as the Haqqani network. She also said there was evidence that theAfghan National Security Forces, Afghan National Police and its spy agency,known as the NDS, committed war crimeslink> .

Bensouda also said evidence existed ofwar crimeslink> committed “by members of theUnited States armed forces on the territory of Afghanistan, and by membersof the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in secret detentionfacilities in Afghanistan,” as well as in countries that had signed on tothe Rome Statute. The secret detention facilities were operated mostlybetween 2003 and 2004, she said.

It was the first time that Bensouda has targeted Americans for alleged warcrimes link> . Bensouda said aninvestigation under the auspices of the international tribunal could breakthrough what she called “near total impunity” in Afghanistan.

The prosecutor’s formal application to thecourtlink> set up a possible showdown withWashington. While the U.S. is not a member state of the ICC, its citizenscan be charged with crimes committed in countries that are members.

At the time of Bensouda’s announcement, a Pentagon spokesman said the U.S.Defense Department does not accept that such an investigation of U.S.personnel is warranted. The U.S. State Department has said it opposes thecourt’s involvement in Afghanistan.

Another Afghan who went to the ICC is Hussain Razaee, whose fiancee,Najiba, was among 30 people killed in July when a Taliban suicide attackerrammed a car bomb into a bus carrying employees from the Ministry of Mines.

For months, Razaee said he contemplated suicide. He had spent two yearsconvincing Najiba’s parents to allow them to marry, and they had finallyagreed. Unlike most Afghan couples, theirs was not to be an arrangedmarriage.

“I lost the person I loved,” he said.

Razaee said he went to the ICC because he wants those responsible to bepunished, even if a peace deal with the Taliban is reached.

“I am pursuing this because I want the ICC to record these cases so that ifthere is a peace agreement, the Taliban leaders will be required toidentify the people behind the killings,” Razaee said.

“I don’t trust the international community to bring any of these warlordsor Taliban to justice, but if an international legal body rules accordingto the law, then the government could be forced to enforce it,” he said.