What happened
Pakistan’s armed forces carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan on the night of 16 March 2026, targeting what security sources described as Afghan Taliban military installations in Kabul and the eastern province of Nangarhar, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. The sources said technical-support infrastructure and ammunition storage at two locations in Kabul were destroyed, and that flames rising from secondary detonations indicated a large cache of explosives. In Nangarhar, four sites were struck, including logistics facilities, ammunition depots and adjoining technical infrastructure, they said.
The strikes were part of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq and came in response to what Pakistan described as unprovoked aggression by the Afghan Taliban government, according to APP. Security sources called Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid’s claim that a drug hospital had been targeted “ridiculous”.
Competing accounts of the hospital
Afghanistan’s Taliban administration said the strikes hit the Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital, a 2,000-bed drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul, at about 9pm local time (16:30 GMT). Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said large sections of the building were destroyed and that the death toll had reached 400, with about 250 people injured. Al Jazeera reported that rescue teams were working to control fires and recover bodies, and that a hospital security guard told the AFP news agency he heard jets overhead before the attack and saw bombs dropped after military units fired at the aircraft.
Mujahid condemned the strike, saying Pakistan had “violated Afghanistan’s airspace” and calling the act “a crime against humanity”. Pakistan rejected the account. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, said no hospital was targeted in Kabul, and the Ministry of Information said the operation had “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure, including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban” and Afghanistan-based Pakistani fighters in Kabul and Nangarhar. The ministry said the facilities were being used against innocent Pakistani civilians, that “Pakistan’s targeting is precise and carefully undertaken to ensure no collateral damage is inflicted”, and that the allegation was meant to stir anti-Pakistan sentiment.
A widening border war
The airstrikes followed an exchange of fire earlier along the two countries’ border. Afghan officials said four people, including two children, were killed and 10 wounded in southeastern Afghanistan, with mortar shells fired from Pakistan overnight striking villages in Khost province and destroying several homes, according to a provincial governor’s spokesman. The United Nations Security Council, in a resolution adopted unanimously, called on Afghanistan’s Taliban government to step up efforts to combat terrorism and extended the UN political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, for three months, without naming Pakistan.
China’s Foreign Ministry said its special envoy had spent a week mediating between the two sides and urged an immediate ceasefire. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan’s military had killed 684 Afghan Taliban fighters, a figure the Taliban government disputes, while Afghan officials have said more than 100 Pakistani soldiers have been killed. Both sides have reported casualties since fighting escalated in late February, and an analyst quoted by AFP said there was little sign of a near-term de-escalation.
Why it matters
The strikes marked another night of direct military action by Pakistan inside Afghanistan during a conflict that has drawn in regional mediators and the UN Security Council. The competing accounts of the Kabul site — a rehabilitation hospital according to the Taliban administration, a military and ammunition site according to Pakistan — could not be independently verified from the available reporting, and the casualty figures reported by each side remain unconfirmed.
What remains uncertain
Whether any hospital was hit, and the true scale of the casualties, remain in dispute. Pakistan has said its operations under Ghazab lil-Haq will continue until their objectives are met, while the Taliban government has vowed to respond, leaving open the prospect of further strikes and border clashes.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published reporting, not eyewitness reconstruction. Sources were reviewed on 16 March 2026.
- APP — "Pakistan conducts airstrikes in Kabul, Nangarhar; destroys technical infrastructure, ammunition depots"Published 16 March 2026 · Pakistan's account of the targets in Kabul and Nangarhar and its dismissal of the hospital claim.
- Al Jazeera — "Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of killing 400 in attack on Kabul hospital"Published 16 March 2026 · Afghan casualty and hospital allegations, the Khost border exchange, the UN Security Council resolution and China's mediation.
