India Strongly Condemns Pakistan's Barbaric Airstrike on Kabul Hospital

MEA: Assault on Afghanistan's Sovereignty

Following the bombing, Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson from India's Ministry of External Affairs remarked that this incident marks a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Pakistan and the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
“This heinous act of aggression by Pakistan is also a blatant assault on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and a direct threat to regional peace and stability. It reflects Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behaviour and its repeated attempts to externalise internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence beyond its borders,” said Jaiswal.

Mr. Jaiswal added, “India unequivocally condemns Pakistan’s barbaric airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul on the night of March 16. This is a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence that has claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target.”

Omid Hospital: From US Base to Drug Rehab Center

The Omid Drug Addiction Treatment Hospital, a former U.S. military base, has been repurposed to help Afghan drug addicts. After the fall of the Ashraf Ghani government in August 2021, the Taliban took over the base and turned it into a basic treatment center.
In a claim, Pakistan has alleged that the facility was being used as an arms and ammunition depot. The Ministry of External Affairs retorted that Pakistan is trying to disguise a massacre as a military operation.

Border Clashes Escalate Ahead of Airstrike

In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, local television stations broadcast footage showing security forces using flashlights as they worked to carry out casualties while firefighters battled the flames engulfing the damaged building.
Rescue teams were tirelessly working to control the fire and recover the bodies of the victims. The airstrike occurred just hours after Afghan officials announced that exchanges of gunfire along the border had resulted in the deaths of four people in Afghanistan, marking a troubling escalation in hostilities that have now continued for three weeks.