Aid Group Confirms Hundreds Dead in Kabul After Pakistani Airstrike as Islamabad Denies Hitting Hospital

Overview

• Afghan authorities report a provisional toll of about 408 dead and 265 injured after strikes that hit a large drug treatment center in central Kabul, a figure not independently verified.
• The Norwegian Refugee Council, after visiting the site, said there are hundreds of dead and wounded, while AFP teams counted at least 95 bodies recovered from the rubble and described extensive destruction.
• Pakistan acknowledges conducting air operations and says it precisely targeted military and terrorist infrastructure, rejecting claims that a hospital or other civilian facilities were struck.
• Rescue and recovery have concluded with officials preparing collective funerals, and aid workers described bodies torn apart by the blast at a facility that reportedly housed 2,000 to 3,000 patients.
• The strike late on March 16–17 comes during a sharp escalation in Afghanistan–Pakistan hostilities since late February, with UN agencies citing prior civilian casualties and over 115,000 Afghan families displaced, and renewed calls for a cease-fire and mediation.