A Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul killed at least 400 people and injured more than 250 on Monday night, March 16, 2026 Afghan officials said, marking the deadliest single incident since cross-border fighting between the two countries escalated in February.
The attack ruined large parts of the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a 2,000-bed center near Kabul’s international airport, at about 9 p.m. local time, sparking massive blazes that trapped patients and staff as people who had just broken their Ramadan fast fled for safety. Pakistan denied striking any civilian sites, saying it targeted military facilities and terrorist infrastructure with precision strikes.
Ahmad, a 50-year-old patient at the center, watched in horror as flames engulfed the 25 people in his dormitory. He was the sole survivor.
“The whole place caught fire. It was like doomsday,” Ahmad told Reuters.
Health officials say roughly 3,000 patients from across Afghanistan were being treated at the hospital when the strikes hit. The facility is a key resource in a country where millions struggle with drug addiction after years of conflict and economic collapse, and after Afghanistan’s long role as a major opium producer.
Anti-aircraft guns opened fire at 9 p.m. while jets flew overhead, continuing for about an hour until emergency teams could reach the wrecked complex. Responders found charred walls, collapsed buildings, and bodies trapped under debris.
Omid Stanikzai, a 31-year-old security guard at the center, recounted the chaos as military units surrounding the hospital fired at the oncoming aircraft. He said the bombing followed clashes between Taliban forces and the jets, producing a blaze that spread quickly through the compound.
Taliban Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qanie reported 408 people killed and 265 wounded in the strike. Emergency, an Italian NGO operating in Afghanistan, received three bodies and treated 27 people injured in the attack.
Ambulance driver Haji Fahim moved at least eight bodies to a nearby hospital over five hours. By Tuesday morning, rescue crews were still extracting victims from the rubble.
Families gathered outside the ruined facility searching for relatives. Baryalai Amiri, a 38-year-old mechanic whose brother had been admitted 25 days earlier, said officials provided little information about survivors or casualties.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid denounced what he called Pakistan’s breach of Afghan territory, calling the strike a crime against humanity. He said the attack struck innocent civilians and addicts, violating international law.
Pakistan’s information ministry flatly rejected the allegations. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said his military carried out precision strikes solely on infrastructure used by the Taliban regime to support what Islamabad calls terror proxies, calling Afghan claims “entirely baseless.”
The attacks were part of Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, which Pakistan launched in late February after reporting what it described as unprovoked assaults by Afghan Taliban fighters. Pakistan also said it struck targets on Monday in Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan.
Cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan intensified in October, eased briefly after a Qatar-brokered ceasefire, and resumed on February 26. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said on March 13 that at least 75 civilians had died since then, and Monday’s hospital strike sharply raised that number.
Some 115,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. The World Food Programme said Sunday it would send food to more than 20,000 displaced Afghan families, warning that continued instability could push millions toward hunger.
Michael Kugelman, a South Asia senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said chances for de-escalation look slim. Gulf Arab mediators who previously intervened now face their own crises, and other mediators, including China, have had limited success despite recent diplomatic efforts.
Pakistan appears set to continue striking targets inside Afghanistan, while the Taliban seem intent on retaliating against Pakistani border posts and possibly using asymmetric tactics—from drone attacks to backing militants deeper into Pakistan. No clear path to reduce tensions is visible.
The Taliban banned all narcotics in April 2022, including opium poppy cultivation, leading to an estimated 95 percent fall in opium output by 2023, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. Thousands struggling with addiction have since been sent to the country’s underfunded, overcrowded treatment centers.
As rescue work continued on Tuesday, teams found more bodies beneath collapsed structures. Personal items—pillows, shoes, clothing—were scattered in the wreckage. In some dormitories, bunk beds stayed against walls while ceilings were blown away, leaving rooms exposed to the open sky.
