The Taliban junta in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that at least 400 people were killed and 250 injured by a Pakistani airstrike that hit a 2,000-bed drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid accused Pakistan of deliberately “targeting hospitals and civilian sites to perpetrate horrors.”
“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,” Mujahid said.
“We strongly condemn this crime and consider such an act to be against all accepted principles and a crime against humanity,” he said.
Pakistan denied the Taliban’s accusations and said its “precision airstrikes” hit only “technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities” in Kabul.
“No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted. The targets were military and terrorist infrastructure, including ammunition and technical equipment storage sites and other installations linked to hostile activity against Pakistan,” insisted Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have been feuding across their border since soon after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Each side accuses the other of harboring or sponsoring militants that want to overthrow their respective governments.
The fighting intensified in October 2025, paused briefly thanks to a ceasefire agreement brokered by Qatar and Turkey, and then escalated to what Pakistan described as “open war” in late February.
Pakistani airstrikes began accompanying sporadic exchanges of artillery and small arms fire across the border, with some strikes targeting the capital of Kabul. On several occasions the Taliban has accused Pakistan of bombing civilian targets.
On Saturday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said the Taliban “crossed a red line” by launching drone attacks on civilian areas.
“While the Afghan terrorist regime seeks negotiations with our friendly countries, it crossed a red line by attempting to target our civilians while Pakistan remains engaged in efforts to promote peace and stability in the Gulf region and West Asia,” Zardari said, warning the Taliban would bring “grave consequences upon itself” with such actions.
The “friendly country” Zardari had in mind was China, which has been frantically trying to mediate another ceasefire between the two countries it has been laboring to bring into its sphere of influence.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Taliban counterpart on Friday that disputes with Pakistan should be resolved through “dialogue and consultation.” He urged both countries to “remain calm and exercise restraint,” but neither seems interested in doing so.
On Monday, the Taliban claimed Pakistani mortar fire across the border killed two children and injured ten other people in southeastern Afghanistan. Pakistan said the bombardment was in response to Taliban mortar fire that killed four family members in its Bajaur district.
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