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Afghanistan on Monday accused Pakistan’s military of targeting a hospital in Kabul with airstrikes in which the country’s Ministry of Health said more than 200 people had been killed.
Pakistan rejected the accusation, saying the strikes – which were also carried out in eastern Afghanistan – did not hit any civilian areas.
The spokesperson of the Department of Health, Sharafat Zaman, revealed the number of dead during a television interview with local media included in X. He said all parts of the hospital – which treat drug users – were destroyed. Local television stations posted images showing firefighters struggling to put out the flames amid the rubble of the building.
The alleged attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their border, killing four people in Afghanistan, as the deadliest war between the neighbors in years entered its third week.
The spokesman for the government of Afghanistan, Zabiullah Mujahid, previously criticized the X strike, before the number of casualties was known, and said that it was harassing the territory of Afghanistan. He said most of the dead and injured were patients being treated at the facility.
The spokesperson of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Mosharraf Zaidi, dismissed the allegations as nonsense, saying that no hospital has been targeted in Kabul.
In a statement to X, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said the strikes “directly targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure including the storage of technical equipment and storage of ammunition of the Afghan Taliban” and Pakistani hideouts based in Afghanistan in Kabul and Nangarhar, saying these facilities were being used against innocent Pakistani citizens.
It said Pakistan’s intention was “specific and carefully crafted to ensure no harm is done.” The ministry said Mujahid’s claim was “false and misleading” and aimed at inciting and mobilizing what it described as “illegal support for cross-border terrorism.”
The UN Security Council is calling on the Taliban to take action
The strike came hours after the UN Security Council urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to immediately step up efforts to fight terrorism. Pakistan accuses Kabul of harboring militant groups, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, which it says carries out attacks inside Pakistan.
The Security Council resolution, which was adopted unanimously, did not mention Pakistan but condemned “in the strongest terms all terrorism including terrorist attacks.” This decision also extends the political mission of the UN in Afghanistan, UNAMA, for three months.
The government of Pakistan often accuses the Afghan government of the Taliban for providing a safe haven to the Pakistani Taliban, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, as well as Baloch opposition groups and other militants who often target Pakistani soldiers and civilians throughout the country. Kabul denies the charge.
Earlier, Afghan officials said four people were killed, including two children, and 10 others were wounded in the southeast of Afghanistan during a shootout on Monday. Mortar shells fired in Pakistan overnight hit villages in Khost Province and destroyed many homes, said Mustaghfar Gurbaz, spokesman for the provincial governor.
On Sunday, Pakistan said mortar fire from Afghanistan hit a house in the northwestern Bajaur district, killing four members of a family and injuring two others, including a five-year-old child. Residents and officials said the troops on Monday were targeting Afghan areas along the border, where Sunday’s attack began.
There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, which has repeatedly said its troops are only targeting Afghan posts and military hideouts.
Neighboring nations in ‘open war’
Islamabad has described the situation as “open war.” This cross-border conflict involved several Pakistani planes in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said the Taliban commanders in Afghanistan had crossed a “red line” by sending drones that injured several civilians in Pakistan last week.
Pakistan’s defense minister has said his country has run out of ‘patience’ with Afghanistan, adding that there is now ‘open war’ between the two countries. Afghanistan launched a cross-border attack on Pakistan late Thursday, saying it was retaliating for deadly Pakistani airstrikes on Afghan border areas on Sunday. Pakistan then launched airstrikes in Kabul and two other Afghan provinces early Friday, saying it targeted military installations.
In response to the attack, Pakistan’s military over the weekend attacked warehouses and “technical support infrastructure” in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, which it said were being used for attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul said Pakistan hit two sites, including an empty security facility and a drug rehabilitation center that sustained minor damage.
In Kabul, Afghanistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Salam Hanafi overnight said that protecting the sovereignty is the duty of all citizens. Speaking at a meeting with political analysts and the media, Hanafi expressed his regret for the casualties of civilians in the recent attack on Pakistan, saying that the war has been imposed on Afghanistan.
The war began in late February after Afghanistan launched a cross-border offensive in response to Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan that Kabul said killed civilians. The clashes undermined a ceasefire imposed by Qatar in October after a previous battle killed scores of soldiers, civilians and suspected terrorists.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Sunday that the army had killed 684 Afghan Taliban fighters, a claim rejected by Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government, which says the death toll is much lower. Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense and other officials say Afghanistan has killed more than 100 Pakistani soldiers.
