KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international human rights organization, said on Friday that the recent Pakistani airstrike on a rehabilitation center in Kabul was “unlawful” and may amount to a “war crime,” calling for an impartial investigation and accountability.
On March 16, the Pakistani military conducted an airstrike on the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, killing and injuring hundreds of people. The Taliban reported at least 400 deaths and 250 injuries, mostly patients, while United Nations estimates put the death toll at 143, with an additional 250 wounded.
In a statement, HRW called on Pakistani authorities to conduct a swift and impartial investigation and ensure accountability for those responsible.
“The available evidence indicates that the Pakistani airstrike against a well-known Kabul medical facility, killing dozens of patients, was unlawful,” said Patricia Gossman, senior associate Asia director at HRW. “Pakistani authorities need to carry out an impartial investigation to determine why it hit a drug treatment centre filled with civilians and who should be held to account,” she added.
The attack hit a large treatment complex that has operated since 2016 on the grounds of Camp Phoenix, a former NATO base. According to an employee interviewed by HRW, three buildings were struck: a dining hall, a residential building housing 450 patients, and a guard room where eight men were working.
Citing a staff member, HRW said more than 1,000 patients were present at the facility at the time of the attack. An international official said many patients had gathered in the dining hall to break their Ramadan fast.
The facility also hosted detainees transferred from Pul-e-Charkhi prison and people held during anti-drug sweeps in Kabul, according to former staff and aid officials. Some of the missing, HRW said, may include prisoners and other patients who escaped in the chaos.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said on March 17 that Pakistan had carried out “precision airstrikes” on “technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities,” but did not mention the Omid facility.
HRW said it found no evidence that the Omid centre was being used for military purposes and described the strike as “unlawfully indiscriminate.” The group also said the attack could have violated the principle of proportionality under international humanitarian law.
“Serious violations of the laws of war committed with criminal intent, that is, deliberately or recklessly, are war crimes,” the group said.
Pakistan, HRW said, has an obligation under international law to investigate alleged “war crimes by its forces and bring those responsible for serious abuses to account.”
“Concerned countries should press Pakistan to provide genuine accountability and ensure that failures in intelligence, target verification, and decision making are identified and fixed so such strikes never happen again,” Gossman said.
U.N. officials, including Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and human rights groups have also called for an investigation into the incident, stressing that civilian facilities must never be deliberately targeted or subjected to disproportionate attacks.
