Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of hitting a hospital in an airstrike that killed hundreds and wounded hundreds more. Pakistan claims its target was a military installation
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Now to Afghanistan, where officials say a Pakistani air strike hit a drug rehabilitation center in the capital, killing at least 400 people. Pakistan said its target was a military facility. It is the deadliest single attack this year in the worsening conflict between the neighboring nations. Reporter Betsy Joles reports from Islamabad in Pakistan. And a warning – this piece contains sounds of explosions.
BETSY JOLES, BYLINE: Buildings smoldered as dead bodies were pulled from the ashes after Pakistani airstrikes on Monday night in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul. Pakistan said the strikes targeted Afghan Taliban military sites and what it calls terrorist infrastructure of militant groups it claims the Taliban government supports. But families say the buildings housed a drug treatment center and that the people inside were patients. They gathered near the hospital this morning to check if the names of their relatives were on the list of victims. Shir Mohammad repeatedly called out the name of his brother-in-law, Murad Ali, who remained missing.
SHIR MOHAMMAD: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: He says he searched all nearby hospitals for him, listing them off. There have been civilian casualties in both countries this month. The U.N.’s migration agency says tens of thousands of people near their shared border have also fled their homes because of mortar and artillery shelling.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
(SOUNDBITE OF MORTAR EXPLOSION)
JOLES: This is from a phone video taken moments before a mortar struck the home of Pakistani Dilawar Khan in Landi Kotal near the border with Afghanistan. Shrapnel wounded Khan’s brother, uncle and father.
DILAWAR KHAN: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: He says the sight of his father in that condition made him weep. Over the past three weeks, Pakistan has hit Afghanistan hard, claiming to have killed hundreds of Taliban fighters in air and ground attacks. Afghanistan has had the most civilian casualties but has also sent drones, mortar and artillery fire across the border.
AFRASIAB KHATTAK: Unfortunately, the common civilian population is at the receiving end.
JOLES: Afrasiab Khattak is a former Pakistani senator and regional affairs analyst. He says many of the displaced have also lost their livelihoods because closed borders have stopped trade.
KHATTAK: It has added to the humanitarian crisis, which is already prevailing in Afghanistan.
JOLES: In just over two years, Pakistan has deported or pressured more than a million Afghans residing there to leave, blaming them for militant attacks, too. That’s another source of tension between the governments, and it’s unlikely fighting will relent soon, says Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies.
MUHAMMAD AMIR RANA: The Pakistan side is quite firm that this is the time to pressurize the Taliban.
JOLES: University student Atal Yousafzai in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, has family on both sides of the border. He says the fighting is stoking resentment that won’t go away anytime soon.
ATAL YOUSAFZAI: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: “The people don’t want this hatred, but it has been spread in their hearts deliberately,” he says. With Fazelminallah Qazizai in Kabul, for NPR News, I’m Betsy Joles in Islamabad.
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.