KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has called for accountability after the latest Pakistani airstrikes on Afghanistan, which UNAMA confirmed killed and injured civilians.
In a post on X on Thursday, Bennett said accountability was “paramount” after the airstrikes on Afghanistan’s Kunar and Helmand provinces, which UNAMA said killed 10 civilians and injured nine others.
“Accountability is paramount after another air strike that has killed civilians, most of them children,” Bennett said, questioning whether the incident resulted from “incompetence, negligence, or something worse.”
“Whatever, there is no justification for doing such irreparable harm to civilians and it appears to violate international human rights and humanitarian law,” he said.
Both Taliban authorities and Pakistani officials confirmed the airstrikes. The strikes hit the Chugam and Shultan districts of Kunar province as well as the Safar and Carmser districts of Helmand in the early hours of Thursday.
Taliban authorities condemned the strikes as an “act of aggression and crimes in violation of all accepted principles.” Pakistani authorities described them as “well planned and calibrated aerial strikes” that targeted hideouts of a terrorist organization, killing 22 militants and destroying weapons and ammunition.
The incident marks a further escalation in strained relations between Pakistan and the Taliban authorities in Kabul. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban of allowing Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan fighters and other militants to use Afghan territory to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban deny the allegation.
Cross-border violence has intensified since late last year. UNAMA has documented more than 1,100 civilian deaths and injuries from cross-border armed violence in Afghanistan so far in 2026. Mediation efforts by China, Russia, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have yet to produce an agreement to end the hostilities.
