Pakistani Strike on Kabul Hospital Kills 400

By Al Mayadeen English

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of killing 400 in a strike on a Kabul drug treatment hospital, as Islamabad denies targeting civilians and border clashes continue to worsen

The Pakistani military has carried out a deadly strike on a hospital treating drug users in Kabul, with officials reporting mass casualties and widespread destruction at the facility.

Deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat stated that the death toll has "so far" reached 400 people, with approximately 250 others wounded in the attack.

According to officials, the vast majority of those killed and injured were patients undergoing treatment at the facility at the time of the strike.

Sharafat Zaman, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, confirmed that all sections of the drug treatment hospital had been completely destroyed. Local media outlets broadcast footage showing firefighters battling intense flames amid the rubble of the collapsed structure. On Tuesday morning, photographs showed rescue teams searching through the debris for survivors.

An ambulance driver named Haji Fahim described arriving at the scene to find scenes of utter devastation. "Everything was burning, people were burning," he recounted. "Early in the morning they called me again and told me to come back because there are still bodies under the rubble."

A patient identified as Yousaf Rahim, who was inside the hospital when the strike occurred, described the terror of the moment.

"We were inside the wards when the explosion happened. My bed was in the corner, and I suffered injuries to my leg and thigh. It was a horrific scene," he said. "Patients fell from their beds, screaming and running as fire and smoke filled the wards and rooms. Thick smoke and dust spread throughout the hospital. Many people lay on the ground. Dozens died instantly, and the critically injured were pleading for help. I didn't know what to do. I stepped over bodies and managed to escape outside."

Dejan Panic, the Afghan director of the Italian NGO Emergency, reported that their facilities had received three bodies from the strike and were currently treating 27 wounded individuals.

Pakistan denies targeting civilian facility

Islamabad has rejected Kabul's claims, dismissing them as "false and misleading."

In a statement, Pakistan's Ministry of Information said that Monday night's operations "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban," as well as Afghanistan-based Pakistani militants in the capital.

The ministry further asserted that "this misreporting of facts as a drug rehabilitation facility seeks to stir sentiments, covering illegitimate support to cross-border terrorism."

This marks the third time in recent weeks that Pakistan has reportedly targeted Kabul with missile strikes. Islamabad has previously described the situation with Afghanistan as an "open war" amid escalating hostilities along their shared border.

Border tensions continue to escalate

The strike on Kabul came just hours after Afghan officials reported that the two sides had exchanged fire along their common border, resulting in four fatalities in Afghanistan as neighboring relations continue their sharp deterioration.

Earlier, Afghan officials confirmed that four people, including two children, were killed and 10 others wounded in southeastern Afghanistan during Monday's exchange.

Mustaghfar Gurbaz, a spokesperson for the provincial governor in Khost, reported that mortar shells fired from Pakistan overnight struck villages in the province, destroying multiple homes.

On Sunday, Pakistan reported that a mortar fired from Afghanistan struck a house in the northwestern Bajaur district, killing four members of a single family and wounding two others, including a five-year-old child.

In response, residents and officials indicated that the military targeted Afghan positions along the border on Monday, though Islamabad provided no immediate comment on these operations.

The current wave of fighting began in late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghan territory. Those clashes effectively collapsed a Qatar-brokered ceasefire established in October following previous deadly border confrontations.

International concern and UN action

Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, expressed deep concern over reports of mass casualties and called for authorities to promptly investigate the incident. "Civilian facilities must never be targeted or put at risk of disproportionate attack," she emphasized.

The cross-border firing and strikes on Kabul occurred hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Afghanistan's Taliban administration to immediately intensify efforts to combat terrorism. While the resolution did not specifically name Pakistan, it condemns "in the strongest terms all terrorist activity, including terrorist attacks." The resolution also extended the UN political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, for an additional three months.

Relations between the former allies have deteriorated significantly over Kabul's alleged role in providing safe haven to radical militants who have been responsible for a surge in deadly attacks inside Pakistan.

Afghanistan's interim government has consistently denied any involvement in cross-border terrorism.

China has attempted to mediate between the two sides, dispatching a special envoy to the region last week in an effort to ease tensions and bring both parties back to negotiations, though those efforts have yet to yield results.

Context: Escalating rhetoric and cross-border operations

The strike on the Kabul hospital comes amid a significant deterioration in relations between Kabul and Islamabad, marked by escalating military rhetoric and conflicting casualty claims from both sides.

In late February, senior Afghan military officials issued direct warnings to Islamabad against continuing hostilities.

Chief of the General Staff of the Afghan armed forces, Fasihuddin Fitrat, stated in a video message on February 27 that Kabul would respond firmly to any attack, explicitly warning that further aggression could threaten the security of Pakistan’s capital. "If they [Pakistan] commit aggression against any area of our country, they will receive the same response. We are confident that if they want to undermine the security of Afghanistan, our forces are capable of making the centers, even the capital, Islamabad, unsafe," Fitrat said.

Those warnings followed a period of intense cross-border clashes.

Afghan authorities reported that Pakistani aircraft were active in Afghan airspace, a claim that was not immediately addressed by Islamabad.

At the same time, Pakistan’s military announced it had launched "Operation Ghazab lil-Haq" ("Righteous Fury"), with a spokesperson for the Pakistani armed forces, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, claiming that 274 Afghan soldiers had been killed and more than 400 injured during overnight fighting. Afghan authorities did not confirm those figures.

According to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the late-February escalation began with a retaliatory military operation against Pakistani positions along the Durand Line.

Kabul stated the operation was launched in response to Pakistani shelling that allegedly resulted in civilian casualties, with Afghan forces targeting Pakistani military posts in eastern and southeastern provinces.

The announcement of that completed operation provided the backdrop for Fitrat's subsequent warning that further retaliation would follow in the event of continued aggression.