Pakistan rubbishes Kabul hospital strike claims

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan on Tuesday forcefully rejected Afghan Taliban claims that its recent airstrikes targeted a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, terming the allegations "entirely baseless" and part of a wider pattern of misinformation aimed at distorting facts.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the strikes carried out on the night of March 16 under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq were "precise, deliberate, and professional", targeting only military and terrorist infrastructure linked to attacks inside Pakistan.

"No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted," the minister stated, adding that ammunition depots, logistics hubs and technical installations were struck in Kabul and Nangarhar.

According to the Information Ministry, footage of all six strikes was released, showing secondary explosions that confirmed the presence of ammunition at the targeted sites. Officials said the visuals "leave no room for doubt" about the nature of the installations hit.

On Tuesday, the Taliban regime's deputy spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat claimed in a post on X that an airstrike had hit the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, killing up to 400 people in the Afghan capital overnight.

In response, the Information Ministry issued a detailed fact-check, pointing out that an initial claim posted by an Afghan official social media handle alleging a strike on a rehabilitation facility was later deleted.

"If the claim was accurate, why was it removed?" officials questioned, suggesting the material may not have withstood scrutiny and could even have involved artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content.

Further undermining the Taliban narrative, the ministry said an image circulated as evidence of mass casualties was in fact from May 2023 and had previously been shared by the Taliban regime's own interior ministry.

Reusing outdated visuals to support current claims, officials said, reflected a "deliberate attempt to mislead public opinion and create confusion."

The ministry further stated that the facility was located several kilometres away from Camp Phoenix, the actual site targeted, and highlighted clear structural differences between the hospital and the installations that were struck.

A report by Afghanistan International further complicated the Taliban's version, indicating that the strike had targeted a military site near Camp Phoenix, while a fire in a nearby building was later portrayed as a hospital attack.

A video cited in the report quoted an individual as saying the impact site was around 200 metres away from the alleged clinic. Tarar said such claims were consistent with "false narratives, doctored material, selective deletions and recycled visuals" used to obscure the facts.

"Their latest allegation is part of the same worn-out pattern of deceit," he said. He maintained that Pakistan's actions were aimed at countering terrorism emanating from Afghan territory, warning that the threat had grown more severe, with vulnerable individuals, including drug addicts and children, being exploited for militant purposes.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also lashed out at the Taliban leadership, accusing them of hypocrisy and ingratitude. In a strongly worded post in Urdu, he said the allegations were coming from "those who orchestrate attacks on mosques, target civilians, and shed the blood of innocent children," adding that Pakistan had hosted them for decades at great cost.

"They [Taliban] do not honour the agreements they make and demand ransom to fulfil commitments worth billions of rupees. The soil of Pakistan did not just give them refuge; it stood up to a superpower for their sake," Asif wrote.

"[We] extended hospitality to three generations. We have made many mistakes in our 78-year history, but their hospitality is the most fatal mistake of all. May Allah forgive us, Ameen," the minister added.

More Taliban posts destroyed

On Tuesday, Pakistani forces carried out a series of coordinated operations against the Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khwarij under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, targeting installations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as well as sites inside Afghanistan.

According to security sources, forces conducted successful operations in the Khyber sector and North and South Waziristan, destroying several Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khwarij posts using anti-tank guided missiles and inflicting heavy losses on the militants.

The forces also destroyed the Taliban's Jhanda Post in North Waziristan along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, as part of the ongoing campaign aimed at dismantling militant infrastructure. Officials said the operation would continue until its stated objectives were achieved.

Tarar said that Pakistan would continue to take "every necessary measure" to defend its citizens, dismantle terrorist networks and deny safe havens to those launching attacks from across the border, dismissing the Taliban's claims as "false and misleading" propaganda.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)