From Kabul to Balochistan: Pakistan’s strategic brutality against Afghan and Baloch civilians

The Pakistan Air Force has been bombing Afghanistan’s cities and other places for the past three weeks. This began after a series of strikes within Pakistan by the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan and the Baloch groups struggling to shake off the Pakistani yoke. Defence Minister Khwaja Asif declared that his country was at war with Afghanistan.

Pakistan claims that its precision bombing attacks against ‘terrorist’ targets and its support infrastructure. This is completely wrong because, in an unforgivable act, the Pakistan Air Force bombed the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital on the evening of March 16. The facility is located at Pul-e-Charki in Kabul and is near a complex created by the US military during their 20-year stay in Afghanistan.

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That Pakistan bombed a civilian health-related centre is borne out by reports in the Western media. In a long account about the incident, a leading Western newspaper noted, “Pictures taken throughout the night and shared by emergency workers… showed no sign of weapons, ammunition or military equipment in the targeted building. Other buildings adjacent to the large structure, each containing 20 to 30 bunk beds, also caught fire. White and blue gowns and identical sandals that looked like part of uniforms distributed to patients, as well as bottles of syrup and pills, could be found in the debris." The newspaper also published pictures of the destruction caused by the Pakistani bombing.

This report and the reports of NGOs in the Afghan capital conclusively establish that the Pakistani bombing led to deaths and injuries. According to Afghan officials, 400 inmates of the facility died in the Pakistani strike. The dead and the injured were taken to Kabul hospitals. What is particularly noteworthy is that these deaths of the innocent occurred in the month of Ramadan, which is holy to Muslims, and when the Eid festival is only a few days away.

Instead of showing remorse for this tragedy caused by its bombing, Pakistan has asserted that the Afghan statements are false. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar stated in posts on X, “All targeting has been done with precision only at those infrastructures (sic) which are being used by the Afghanistan Taliban regime to support its multiple terror proxies, including Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan, as can be clearly seen in the accompanying footage. False claims made by the propagandists (sic) Taliban regime cannot befool the Afghans and the world about their heinous actions supporting and sponsoring terrorism in the region. Operations under Ghazab Lil Haq to safeguard Pakistani citizens against terrorism waged by Master Terrorist Proxy will continue until the desired objectives are fully achieved." Tarar has added only insult to injury.

Pakistan has released what it claims is the camera footage of the strike. This cannot, however, obscure the photographs of the destruction of the facility or the bodies and the injured lying in Kabul hospitals. The Pakistani authorities' insensitivity is unimaginable. The least Islamabad and Rawalpindi could have done was to announce, at the highest military and civilian levels, that the Pakistani military will investigate the bombing. It should also have expressed regret at the death and injury suffered by the Afghans, even though it qualified that by saying that it would take no responsibility till its investigation was completed. That has not been the Pakistani reaction till now. Such a careless attitude, especially during the month of Ramadan, shows the depth of Pakistan’s hostility towards Afghanistan.

Pakistan would be aware that during the 20 years of the US presence in Afghanistan, the Afghan people were most offended by two actions of the American military:

The first was its failure to ensure that its bombing was confined to only Taliban targets. It did not take care to avoid the use of wrong targeting information. Consequently, US aircraft caused numerous deaths in bombing civilian facilities which had nothing to do with the Taliban. They also bombed congregations of Afghans which they thought were gatherings of the Taliban but were not so. Sometimes even marriage parties were struck, turning happy occasions into those of intense grief.

The second was the military going into family quarters, or the 'zenana', of residential buildings in search of the Taliban. This was most offensive to the Afghans.

The Afghans were outraged by these American actions. They complained to their presidents – first Hamid Karzai and later Ashraf Ghani. The presidents put pressure on the US military. In time the Americans ensured that their intelligence improved. Besides—and this is what the Pakistanis should emulate—they quickly carried out their investigations, and if they had made a mistake which led to the loss of innocent lives, US commanders in Afghanistan expressed regret. This was only a gesture, but the acknowledgement of a mistake is the least which a civilised armed force can do. Obviously, the Pakistanis are reluctant to do so. This reveals their true nature.

India did well in its statement of March 17 to call out this act as an affront to civilised conduct in interstate relations. Its statement noted, “This is a cowardly and unconscionable act of violence that has claimed the lives of a large number of civilians in a facility which can by no means be justified as a military target. Pakistan is now trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation." The statement went on to correctly add, “There is no faith, no law, and no morality that can justify the deliberate targeting of a hospital and its patients. India also called upon “the international community…[to] hold the perpetrators of this criminal act accountable and ensure that the wanton targeting by Pakistan of civilians in Afghanistan ceases without delay." It is doubtful if Pakistan would act with restraint towards Afghanistan. It has been emboldened by the Americans supporting its action as part of ‘self-defence'.

This attack will harden Afghan attitudes towards the mediation of China to stop a further slide in Pakistan-Afghan relations. Before the attack, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in contact with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, and the Afghan Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. He urged both to adopt dialogue and negotiation to address their disputes. China wants a stable and peaceful region to the west of Pakistan because it fears that unrest there can spread and impact its interests in Xinjiang. It also does not want these differences to provide what it feels will be opportunities for India to strengthen its position in Afghanistan.

(The writer is a former Indian diplomat who served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan and Myanmar, and as secretary, the Ministry of External Affairs. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.)