Pakistan sticks to its guns on Kabul air strike
2026-03-18 - 08:31
• Islamabad maintains ex-Nato base targeted, presence of ammo dump confirmed by footage, secondary explosions • Afghan officials claim large numbers of casualties at ‘rehab centre’ • Taliban spox confuses ‘Omid Camp’ with Omid Hospital • Beijing seeks to ensure safety of personnel, interests in region • UN calls for probe; EU urges restraint ISLAMABAD: Following “targeted” overnight airstrikes in Kabul and Nangarhar, Pakistan on Tuesday maintained that it had targeted ‘Camp Phoenix’ — a former US military base currently being used by Afghan Taliban forces — even as Afghanistan claimed a drug rehabilitation centre had been bombed instead. According to Information Minister Atta Tarar, an ammunition storage facility was among the targets hit in the Afghan capital. However, reports emanating from Kabul said that a drug treatment centre known as ‘Omid Camp’ was targeted, with Afghan officials claiming hundreds dead and injured as a result. The UN called for a swift and independent investigation, the EU urged both sides to exercise restraint, while China asked the two countries to “swiftly implement a ceasefire” and resolve their differences through dialogue in the wake of the incident. In a statement, Mr Tarar said that Pakistan conducted six “precise, deliberate and professional” strikes in Kabul and Nangarhar on Monday night, as part of Islamabad’s Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, to dismantle terrorist infrastructure that was facilitating attacks on Pakistani soil. As with established practice, all six strikes were promptly put out with video footage by the information ministry, making the nature of the targets plain for all to see, he noted. “The visuals leave no room for doubt,” he said, adding the flames and secondary detonations witnessed in Kabul further confirm that the intended ammunition storage site was hit. “No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted,” Mr Tarar maintained. ‘Omid Camp’ or Omid hospital However, conflicting reports emerged from Kabul. Hamdullah Fitrat, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban, claimed that the state-run Omid Hospital, a 2,000-bed drug rehabilitation centre, had been targeted. But according to a fact-check, published by Pakistan’s information ministry, Omid Hospital is in the heart of Kabul, miles from ‘Camp Phoenix’ — which is located to the east of the city’s international airport. However, locals told the Reuters news agency that the abandoned Nato base had been converted into a drug treatment centre, and locals referred to it as Omid Camp, or “camp of hope”, although its official name was ‘Ibn Sina Drug Addiction Treatment Hospital’. This is a 1,000-bed facility, and locals said it was this centre that had been hit, adding that the Omid Hospital and ‘Omid Camp’ were not related. At the site of the airstrike, a blackened single-storey structure could be seen badly damaged. The hunks of twisted metal seen at the site lined up with the way most temporary structures were built on US military bases in Afghanistan. In other places, white-tiled corridors and mostly intact bunk beds could be seen, with blankets, personal belongings and bedding strewn about. Photos of the scene also showed broken glass lying on top of beds inside the structure, implying that they were broken by the shockwave from an explosion that occurred outside the building. Casualties Although Reuters said it could not verify the casualty numbers, the Norwegian Refugee Council, an independent aid group, said its staff had seen large numbers of casualties. Susan Ferguson, the UN Women Special Representative in Afghanistan, told a briefing in New York by video link from Kabul that she drove past the site and the scene was “devastating”. According to Reuters, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesperson Abdul Mateen Qanie claimed 408 people were killed and 265 wounded in the attack. Afghan authorities said casualties were taken to hospitals around Kabul, but did not gave details of how they were counted or showed the bodies to media. However, Mr Tarar termed the Afghan claims “entirely baseless”, adding: “propaganda is coming from a regime whose officials have repeatedly relied on false narratives, doctored claims, selective deletions of earlier posts, and the circulation of old visuals to mislead audiences and cover up the truth.” Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesperson for PM Shehbaz Sharif, said on X that the Afghan reference to drug users being targeted was “lies” and Pakistan’s “counterterrorism operations” would continue for as long as it took to eliminate “terrorists and their infrastructure”. “All military operations will continue till such time as there is a change in the behavior and the ground reality in Afghan Taliban regime-controlled territory,” he told Reuters on Tuesday. However, he declined to provide any estimate of casualties and said Pakistan would not engage with death toll figures reported by Afghan authorities or aid groups. UN demands probe “Last night’s tragic blast... must be investigated promptly, independently and transparently,” UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva. He called for those responsible to be “held to account in line with international standards”, and insisted that the results of any investigation “be made public”. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called for an “immediate ceasefire”, as did UN rights chief Volker Turk. Meanwhile, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that the upsurge in hostilities since late February had “resulted in at least six health facilities being impacted in Afghanistan”, in addition to the rehab clinic. An EU statement said civilian and medical facilities were protected under international law and called the strike “another deadly escalation in a conflict that needs to end as soon as possible.” China again appealed for restraint and called for the safety of Chinese personnel and interests in the region, just a day after a foreign ministry spokesperson said Beijing was ready to continue efforts to ease tensions and urged both states to return to negotiations. With input from Reuters Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2026