Taliban Says Pakistan Hit Kabul Hospital, Killing 400; Islamabad Rejects Claims as ‘Baseless’

International

oi-Ashish Rana

At least 400 people were killed and around 250 others injured after a Pakistani airstrike allegedly hit a major hospital in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, according to Taliban officials early Tuesday.

The strike, if confirmed, marks a major escalation in the already worsening conflict between the two neighbouring countries, with both sides trading blame amid intensifying border violence.

Taliban Says Kabul Hospital Was Directly Hit

Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat said the airstrike struck the drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul at around 9 pm local time. He said large portions of the 2,000-bed medical facility were destroyed in the attack.

Taliban officials described the strike as one of the deadliest incidents in recent months, saying patients undergoing treatment were among the casualties.

Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid strongly condemned the incident and accused Pakistan of deliberately striking civilian infrastructure.

“The Pakistani military regime has once again violated Afghanistan’s airspace and targeted a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, resulting in the death and injury of addicts who were undergoing treatment,” he posted on X.

“We strongly condemn this crime and consider such an act to be against all accepted principles and a crime against humanity,” he further said.

Pakistan Rejects Hospital Strike Allegation

Pakistan denied the Afghan government’s claims and dismissed the allegation that a hospital in Kabul had been targeted.

Islamabad called the accusations “baseless” and insisted that no medical facility was struck during its operation.

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military had instead “carried out precision airstrikes” aimed at military-related targets in Kabul and in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar.

He said “technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities” at two separate locations in Kabul were destroyed in the operation.

“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,” he wrote on X.

Border Conflict Deepens as Fighting Enters Third Week

The alleged airstrike came only hours after Afghan officials said forces from both countries exchanged fire along the shared border, leaving four people dead on the Afghan side.

The latest exchange is part of the most serious fighting seen between Pakistan and Afghanistan in years, with clashes now stretching into a third consecutive week.

Tensions surged in late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to earlier Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghan territory, which Kabul said had killed civilians.

The renewed violence has further destabilised relations between the two countries and raised fears of a broader military confrontation.

Ceasefire Collapse Raises Fears of Wider War

The latest hostilities have effectively derailed a ceasefire brokered by Qatar last October. That agreement had briefly paused an earlier round of fighting that left dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants dead.

With the truce now in tatters, rhetoric from both sides has become increasingly severe.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has declared that the country is in “open war” with Afghanistan, underlining the scale of the current breakdown in ties.

The alleged Kabul hospital strike and the sharply conflicting narratives from both governments are likely to intensify international concern over civilian safety, especially as both sides continue military operations amid a rapidly deteriorating security situation.