Pakistan rubbishes Afghan Taliban’s claims of Kabul hospital being hit

No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, no civilian facility targeted: Tarar

ISLAMABAD:  Pakistan on Tuesday dismissed claims made by the Afghan Taliban that its armed forces allegedly struck a hospital in Kabul, stating that the target was “Camp Phoenix”, which is several kilometres away from the hospital.

The development comes amid the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, which was launched on the night of February 26, following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border. Earlier on Monday, the government said that Pakistani forces targeted the Afghan Taliban’s military installations in Kabul and Nangarhar overnight.

A fact check posted by the information ministry on X said that Omid Hospital, which the Afghan Taliban claimed had been hit, was “actually multiple kilometres away from Camp Phoenix, the military terrorist ammunition and equipment storage site precisely targeted last night”.

Sharing satellite imagery, the ministry said that the “actual hospital is a multi-storied structure as compared to the military/terrorist infrastructure actually targeted, whose image is also attached; the difference and lie is clear to see”.

Dismissing the claims, it also questioned why an alleged drug rehabilitation facility would be “co-located with [a] lethal ammunition storage site in a military camp”.

“This also remains unanswered,” it added.

In a separate post, the ministry presented further information, asking why the “official handle” of the Afghan Taliban had deleted a post in which it was claimed that a “drug rehab” had been hit.

“Was this [a generative] AI clip that could not stand the multiple fact checks being made? Afghan Taliban walking away from their manipulated post,” it said.

In another post, the ministry debunked an image used by the Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid, which he had used as “evidence” of the incident.

“The image being presented as evidence of a recent incident is, in fact, from May 2023 and was originally shared by the Afghan Taliban interior ministry at that time, exposing the falsehood of the current claim,” the information ministry said.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar also rejected the claim, alleging that the Afghan Taliban regime was “peddling yet another falsehood” by making such claims.

“This claim is entirely baseless,” he asserted, maintaining that Pakistan was only engaging “military and terrorist targets, along with the infrastructure of the Afghan Taliban regime, that are being directly or indirectly used to plan, facilitate, shelter, train, or abet terrorist attacks inside Pakistan”.

The minister said that strikes carried out on Monday night in Kabul and Nangarhar were “precise, deliberate, and professional”.

“No hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted,” he emphasised.

“The targets were military and terrorist infrastructure, including ammunition and technical equipment storage sites and other installations linked to hostile activity against Pakistan,” he said. Staff Report