New Delhi: At least 400 people were killed and over 250 injured in an airstrike by Pakistan on a hospital in Kabul late Monday evening. The Taliban regime has said the strike on the Omar Addiction Treatment Centre is a “crime against humanity” in possibly the deadliest strike in modern Afghan history.
“The Pakistani military regime has once again violated Afghanistan’s airspace and targeted a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, resulting in the death and injury of addicts who were undergoing treatment. We strongly condemn this crime and consider such an act to be against all accepted principles and a crime against humanity,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for Taliban said in a statement Monday.
The strike, which took place at around 9.00 pm Afghan local time, struck the Omar Addiction Treatment Centre in Kabul, a 2,000-bed facility. The raid destroyed large parts of the hospital, with local television channels showing firefighters struggling to extinguish the flames.
Hamidullah Fitrat, deputy spokesperson for Taliban, announced that 400 people had been killed and over 250 injured in a statement Tuesday. The attack is one of the deadliest in the history of the Central Asian nation.
Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, posted on X that he was “dismayed” by the strikes made by Pakistan, resulting in civilian casualties. “I urge parties to de-escalate, exercise maximum restraint & respect international law, including the protection of civilians and civilian objects such as hospitals.”
The latest air strike by Pakistan comes as the ongoing conflict between the two neighbours enters its third week, which is reported to be the deadliest yet between Islamabad and Kabul. Hours before the strike, both sides had acknowledged firing across the Durand Line, which left at least four Afghan nationals dead.
Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting, denied that Islamabad hit civilian infrastructure, asserting that the airstrikes, as part of Pakistan military’s Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, targeted “Afghan Taliban regime terrorism sponsoring military installations in Kabul and Nangarhar”.
Tarar added: “Technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities at two locations in Kabul were effectively destroyed. The visible secondary detonations after the strikes clearly indicate the presence of large ammunition depots.”
Islamabad further asserted that Taliban is attempting to fool the world and shield themselves from their “heinous actions” in supporting and sponsoring terrorism “in the region”. Pakistan has accused the Taliban regime of harbouring and supporting terrorist groups, including the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and called on Kabul to stop such actions.
The strikes by Pakistan Monday also came hours after the United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) by three months till 17 June, after the US pushed for a shorter tenure of the political mission. The UNSC has usually renewed the mandate of the UNAMA by a year.
The UNSC resolution extending the mandate of the UNAMA Monday, also called on the Taliban regime to step up its efforts to combat terrorism. Islamabad’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Usman Jadoon in remarks to the UNSC claimed that Kabul is currently harbouring a number of terrorist groups including the TTP, Balochistan Liberation Army, ISIL-Kurdistan, Al Qaeda and East Turkestan Islamic Movement.
The Taliban has consistently rejected Islamabad’s claims, pointing out in the past that the Pakistani administration has failed to contain its own domestic security concerns, and thereby placing blame on third countries.
Pakistan has consistently been striking targets in Afghanistan for over a year, starting with airstrikes in late December 2024, that killed a number of civilians.
It had long supported the efforts of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and in 2021, had even gone so far as to support its return to power in Kabul, after a two-decade long war with the US. However, the relationship has since cratered.
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