As clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan along the Iranian border entered their third week, Afghan officials accused Pakistan of bombing a hospital in Kabul and said the strike produced more than 600 casualties.
On March 16 (local time), the Associated Press reported that the Taliban-run Afghan government said Pakistan struck a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul at about 9 p.m.
Hamdulla Phitrat, the Taliban administration’s deputy spokesman, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the airstrike hit a Kabul hospital, destroying most of the roughly 2,000‑bed facility. He said the death toll had reached about 400, with roughly 250 people wounded.
The Taliban released footage on local television showing security forces using flashlights to move the injured and firefighters battling flames amid the building’s rubble.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesman, said the dead and wounded were all hospital patients and accused Pakistan of deliberately targeting medical and other civilian facilities to carry out a “horrific atrocity.” “We strongly condemn this crime; it violates basic principles and is an inhumane act,” he said.
Pakistan’s government denied any attack on the hospital and dismissed the Afghan claims as baseless.
Ataullah Tarar, Pakistan’s information minister, posted on X that Pakistani forces carried out “precision strikes” targeting military sites in Kabul and in eastern Nangarhar province. He said technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage at two locations in Kabul were destroyed and insisted the strikes were aimed only at facilities the Taliban uses to support various terrorist proxy groups.
The confrontation between Afghanistan and Pakistan escalated on Feb. 22, when Pakistan struck multiple targets inside Afghanistan, including Tehrik‑e‑Taliban Pakistan strongholds. Afghanistan retaliated, and the clash has since devolved into open fighting. Both sides say nearly 700 soldiers have been killed since the fighting began.
By Hee‑won Seo shw@etnews.com
