Amnesty International has raised serious concerns about civilian casualties following a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul on March 16, reiterating its call for an independent investigation into the attack.
The strike, carried out on March 16 as part of Pakistan’s reported military operation, hit a site known as Omid, a rehabilitation center located at the former Camp Phoenix — once a US and NATO military base on the outskirts of Kabul.
Pakistani officials have said the strike targeted an ammunition depot. However, Amnesty International said the location had long been known to host civilians and should have been treated as such.
“While the total death toll has yet to be independently verified, it is clear that the attack resulted in a significant number of civilian deaths and injuries, at least in the hundreds,” said Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for research.
The organization said the facility had been operating as a rehabilitation center since 2016 and could accommodate around 2,000 people, raising concerns that the site had a high civilian presence at the time of the strike.
Amnesty said that even if a military target was present within the compound, the scale of destruction raises questions about whether Pakistan’s military properly assessed the risk to civilians.
“The decision to attack should have been weighed against the likely harm to civilians,” Lassee said, adding that the incident raises concerns about compliance with international humanitarian law, particularly the principle of proportionality.
Amnesty called on Pakistani authorities to explain what intelligence informed the strike and what steps were taken to verify the target and minimize civilian harm.
The group also urged an independent, impartial and timely investigation, with findings made public to ensure accountability.
Taliban have said more than 400 civilians were killed and over 200 injured in the strike, though those figures have not been independently verified. The United Nations has so far confirmed at least 143 deaths.
The airstrike came amid escalating tensions between Taliban and Pakistan. The UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, has documented at least 76 civilian deaths in eastern Afghanistan in the first two weeks of the clashes.
Pakistani officials have also reported civilian casualties on their side of the border, including four deaths in Bajaur district on March 15 and the killing of a child in North Waziristan earlier in the month, which they attributed to fire from Afghanistan’s territory.
Amnesty called on all parties to the conflict to adhere strictly to international humanitarian law and take urgent measures to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including health facilities.
