Afghanistan says 400 people killed in Pakistan strike on Kabul hospital

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of deadly airstrike on Kabul hospital as border tensions escalate

Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of killing at least 400 people in an airstrike that reportedly hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul on Monday evening, marking a dramatic escalation in the ongoing cross-border conflict between the neighboring countries.

Afghan officials claim the strike destroyed large sections of the 2,000-bed facility around 9 p.m. local time. In addition to the reported 400 fatalities, approximately 250 people were injured, according to Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat.

Local media shared footage showing security forces using flashlights to evacuate casualties while firefighters battled flames amid the building’s ruins. Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike, describing it as “targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors” and “a crime against humanity.”

Pakistan has vehemently denied hitting any civilian targets. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated that the military had “carried out precision airstrikes” targeting military installations in Kabul and eastern Nangarhar province. According to Tarar, the strikes destroyed “technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities” at two locations in Kabul.

“All targeting has been done with precision only at those infrastructures which are being used by Afghan Taliban regime to support its multiple terror proxies,” Tarar wrote on social media platform X. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesperson Mosharraf Zaidi dismissed Afghanistan’s allegations as baseless, insisting no hospital was targeted.

The airstrike came hours after the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to immediately intensify efforts to combat terrorism. While the resolution did not specifically reference attacks carried out in Pakistan, it condemned “in the strongest terms all terrorist activity including terrorist attacks” and extended the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan for three months.

This latest escalation follows weeks of increasing hostility. Earlier on Monday, Afghan officials reported that cross-border fire had killed four people in Afghanistan as the deadliest fighting between the neighbors in years entered its third week.

The current conflict, which began in late February, has disrupted a Qatar-brokered ceasefire from October that had temporarily halted earlier clashes. Those previous confrontations had resulted in dozens of casualties among soldiers, civilians, and suspected militants on both sides.

Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing safe haven to the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States. Pakistani officials also claim Afghanistan harbors Baloch separatist groups and other militants who regularly target Pakistani security forces and civilians. The Taliban government in Kabul consistently denies these allegations.

The conflict has raised international alarm, particularly as the region is home to other militant organizations, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, which security analysts fear could exploit the instability to strengthen their positions.

Pakistani officials have claimed to have killed 684 Afghan Taliban forces during the conflict, an assertion rejected by Afghanistan, which maintains casualties are significantly lower. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry contends it has killed more than 100 Pakistani soldiers.

Tensions escalated further last week when Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari declared that Afghanistan’s Taliban administration had crossed a “red line” by allegedly deploying drones that injured several civilians in Pakistan. In response, Pakistan’s air force reportedly struck equipment storage sites and “technical support infrastructure” in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar Province over the weekend.

In Kabul, Afghanistan’s administrative Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi expressed regret over civilian casualties, stating that defending sovereignty is the duty of all citizens and that the war was “imposed on Afghanistan.”

The intensifying conflict undermines years of fragile efforts to stabilize the region following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and represents one of the most serious international challenges facing Afghanistan’s Taliban government since it took power.