Pakistani forces have claimed they carried out ‘precision airstrikes’ across Afghanistan overnight, targeting what it described as terrorist positions and support infrastructure. However, Afghan authorities accused Islamabad of hitting a rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, claiming the attack led to the killing of at least 400 people.
The strikes are part of Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, launched on February 26, according to Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The operation was initiated in response to alleged cross-border attacks by Taliban forces along the roughly 2,600-kilometre frontier.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan’s armed forces conducted the strikes late on March 16, targeting what he described as ‘terrorism-sponsoring’ Taliban military facilities in Kabul and Nangarhar.
Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration, however, strongly disputed Pakistan’s account. Deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said the strikes instead hit a drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul, killing at least 400 people and injuring around 250 others.
Fitrat said the bombardment destroyed large sections of the hospital, with rescue teams still searching through rubble for bodies. The strike reportedly damaged five buildings within the rehabilitation complex, where up to 3,000 patients had been undergoing treatment. Deputy Interior Minister Muhammad Nabi Omari, who visited the site, accused Pakistan of carrying out a deliberate campaign against Afghan civilians.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid warned that Afghanistan would respond forcefully to what he described as Pakistan’s aggression. Pakistan rejected those allegations. Tarar maintained that the strikes were carefully targeted at militant infrastructure, including facilities linked to the Afghan Taliban and groups referred to by Pakistan as ‘Fitna al-Khawarij’, a term it uses for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
He said the targeted locations included weapons depots, technical equipment storage and operational bases allegedly used to launch attacks against Pakistani civilians. Tarar also dismissed Afghan claims as propaganda, saying they were intended to obscure support for cross-border militancy.
Providing operational details, he said 684 Taliban operatives had been killed and 912 injured so far. He added that 252 posts had been destroyed, 44 captured and then demolished, and 229 tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery pieces eliminated. In total, he claimed, 73 militant-linked targets across Afghanistan had been struck.
Indian govt condemns attack
India government has condemned the latest Pakistani airstrike on Afghanistan, labeling the timing, which came during the holy month of Ramadan, as ‘reprehensible’. In a strongly worded statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declared, "There is no system of faith, law or morality that could justify the deliberate targeting of a hospital and its patients."
The government further characterised the incident as a blatant assault on Afghan sovereignty and a ‘direct threat to regional peace and stability’. Turning its focus towards Islamabad, the MEA suggested the strike was part of a ‘persistent pattern of reckless behaviour’, accusing Pakistan of attempting to mask its own internal failures through ‘increasingly desperate acts of violence’ across its borders.
Also read: Pakistan launches airstrikes on Taliban targets in Kandahar
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