SRINAGAR: On the eve of Shab-e-Qadr, regarded as the holiest night in the Muslim calendar during the month of Ramazan, Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of carrying out a devastating air strike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. The attack, Afghan officials say, has caused massive civilian casualties and intensified the already escalating conflict between the neighbouring countries.
According to Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government, the strike targeted a large drug rehabilitation centre in the Afghan capital late Monday evening. Deputy spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, Hamdullah Fitrat, told Afghanistan’s TOLO News that the death toll had risen sharply.
“Following last night’s bombardment by Pakistan’s military regime on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, the number of martyrs has so far risen to 400, while the number of injured has reached 250,” Fitrat said.
The strike, which Afghan authorities say destroyed large sections of the treatment facility, came at a time when thousands of patients were undergoing rehabilitation there.
The treatment centre was housing more than 3,000 people undergoing drug treatment, according to hospital officials quoted by the BBC, raising fears that the final casualty toll could be far higher.
BBC reporters visiting the site said parts of the hospital complex were still burning hours after the strike, while rescuers carried bodies from the debris on stretchers.
The Afghan health ministry’s spokesman, Sharafat Zaman Amarkhail, told the broadcaster that there were no military facilities near the hospital, disputing claims by Pakistan that the strikes targeted militant infrastructure.
Residents reported hearing powerful explosions across Kabul around 8:50 pm local time, followed by aircraft overhead and the activation of air defence systems.
Family members of patients gathered outside the facility, desperately searching for information about relatives who had been receiving treatment inside.
Pakistan rejected the accusations and insisted that its air force had struck only militant positions.
According to Reuters, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said the operation targeted “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure” in Kabul and in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
In a statement posted on the social media platform X, the ministry said the targeted sites included facilities storing ammunition and equipment used by Afghan Taliban militants and fighters it described as “Fitna al-Khawarij”, a term used by Pakistan for militant groups.
The ministry insisted the operation was “precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted.”
Pakistan’s military did not immediately respond to requests for further comment, according to global news gatherers.
Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership has condemned the strike as a violation of national sovereignty and warned of retaliation.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told TOLO News that the attack marked a turning point in relations between the two countries.
“The time for diplomacy with Pakistan is over, and this attack must be avenged,” Mujahid said.
The Afghan government says most of the victims were patients receiving treatment at the centre.
The attack has drawn concern from international human rights officials.
Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, expressed alarm over reports of civilian casualties.
Bennett said he was deeply concerned by the attack and called on Kabul and Islamabad to reduce tensions and respect international humanitarian law, particularly the obligation to protect civilians and public facilities such as hospitals.
The International Human Rights Foundation also condemned the strike, stating that attacks on hospitals and other public institutions constitute a clear violation of international law.
The organisation called on the international community to launch an independent investigation and ensure those responsible are brought to justice.
The strike comes amid the most serious fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan in years.
According to The Guardian, the alleged airstrike followed exchanges of fire along the two countries’ border earlier in the day, which Afghan officials said killed four people, including two children, in Khost province.
Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups responsible for attacks inside Pakistani territory, an allegation the Taliban government denies.
The dispute has escalated into repeated cross-border strikes since late February, after Pakistan conducted earlier air raids inside Afghanistan that Kabul described as violations of its sovereignty.
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), at least 75 people have been killed and 193 injured in the cross-border violence since February 26.
Afghan officials say Pakistani forces have also launched rocket attacks along the disputed Durand Line.
Ziaurrahman Spinghar, an official in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, told TOLO News that around 160 rockets had been fired into several districts during the past 24 hours.
In response, Afghanistan’s Ministry of National Defence said Afghan forces had carried out retaliatory operations that killed or wounded 25 Pakistani soldiers near the border in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces.
With tensions escalating rapidly, regional powers are attempting to intervene diplomatically.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing had dispatched its special envoy for Afghanistan to both Kabul and Islamabad in an effort to mediate between the two sides.
China is urging both governments to declare a ceasefire and resolve their disputes through dialogue.
Analysts say other regional actors, including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, could also play a role in facilitating negotiations between the two countries.
But with Kabul accusing Pakistan of a devastating strike on a hospital filled with vulnerable patients on one of the most sacred nights of the Islamic calendar, the latest escalation threatens to push relations between the two neighbours closer to open war.
