Pakistan rejects hospital strike claim, says Kabul target was militant infrastructure

Pakistan on Tuesday rejected Afghan Taliban claims that one of its recent airstrikes hit a drug treatment facility in Kabul, insisting the site targeted under Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq was being used for military and militant support purposes.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, Pakistan said its armed forces carried out precision strikes on the night of March 16 against what it described as “terrorism sponsoring military installations” in Kabul and Nangarhar. His tweet said the targets included technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities, and argued that secondary explosions seen after the strikes were evidence of large weapons depots at the locations hit.

The response came after the Afghan Taliban accused Pakistan of bombing the Omid drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul and causing mass civilian casualties. Reuters reported that Taliban officials said hundreds had been killed or injured in the strike, though those figures could not be independently verified. Pakistan has flatly denied targeting any civilian facility and called the Taliban account “false and misleading.”

According to Pakistan’s version, two sites in Kabul and four in Nangarhar were struck, with logistics, ammunition and technical infrastructure destroyed. The government said all targets were selected with precision and were linked to support networks used by militant proxies, including Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters, whom the state refers to as Fitna al Khawarij, and Baloch separatist elements it calls Fitna al Hindustan. Pakistan maintained that the operation was aimed solely at infrastructure allegedly being used to facilitate cross-border terrorism.

The latest exchange marks a sharp escalation in already strained ties between Islamabad and Kabul. Fighting between the two neighbours intensified last month, with both sides accusing the other of backing militancy and violating sovereignty. Reuters said the United Nations has urged restraint and stressed the need to protect civilians and civilian sites, including hospitals, as fears grow of a wider regional spillover.

Pakistan said operations under Ghazab-Lil-Haq would continue until what it called its security objectives had been achieved.