Amnesty International has expressed serious concern in the context of international humanitarian law over the recent airstrike by Pakistan on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Information has come to light that more than 400 people were killed and more than 200 civilians were injured in this attack.
Pakistani officials had claimed that the target of this airstrike in Kabul on March 16 was an alleged weapons warehouse. Responding to this, Amnesty International’s South Asia sub-regional director Isabelle Lassie said that the Pakistan Army did not take necessary precautions to protect civilians from harm.
According to Amnesty International, Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Kabul and Nangarhar on March 16 under “Operation Ghazab Lil Haq”. Kabul’s ‘Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital’ was targeted in these attacks. The center was established in 2016 on the site of ‘Camp Phoenix’, which was previously a US and NATO military base and is located on the outskirts of the Afghan capital.
According to the information, this rehabilitation center and the surrounding area had the capacity to accommodate about 2000 people. According to Afghan officials, more than 400 civilians were killed and more than 200 were injured in the attack. Isabelle Lassie said the death toll had yet to be independently verified, but it was clear that there were a large number of civilian casualties in the attack.
He said, “NATO’s ‘Camp Phoenix’ in the east has been functioning as a large-scale de-addiction center since 2016. In such a situation, before attacking, the Pakistan Army should have taken every possible precaution for the safety of civilians and civilian sites. If proper investigation and information was collected, the presence of a large number of civilians there would have become clear.”
He also said that even if there was a stockpile of weapons, it was still necessary to assess the potential civilian loss before attacking.
Isabelle Lassie called on Pakistani officials to clarify what intelligence was used for the operation and how it was verified. Additionally, he called for an independent, impartial and timely investigation into the attack and the resulting civilian casualties and its findings be made public so that accountability can be determined.
Amnesty International calls on all parties to the conflict to strictly adhere to international humanitarian law and take immediate action to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure. Special emphasis has been laid on the safety of hospitals and health facilities.
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