Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has issued a strong response to the allegations by the Afghan Taliban regime that Pakistan targeted a hospital in Kabul, stating that those who kill schoolchildren and worshippers in mosques are capable of entering hospitals to kill patients and then blaming Pakistan to gain international sympathy.

Asif took to X to write, "Killers of school children and worshippers in mosques are definitely capable of entering a hospital and killing patients and then blaming Pakistan just to attract international sympathy".

 

Earlier, speaking on private media channel talkshow Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said that the Afghan Taliban regime must decide whether it stands with terrorists or with Pakistan.

 

He added that the roots of terrorism in Pakistan trace back to Afghanistan and that strikes were carried out on terrorist hideouts and infrastructure linked to the Afghan Taliban regime.

 

Tarar said that the Afghan Taliban attempted to build a false narrative that a hospital had been targeted, adding that ammunition was stored at the site that was struck and the resulting explosions confirmed the nature of the target. He added that the objectives of Operation Ghazab- lil-haq were clear.

 

Pakistan carried out airstrikes in Kabul and Nangarhar on the night of March 16, destroying ammunition and technical infrastructure.

 

A spokesperson for the Afghan interior ministry had claimed that 400 people were killed in an attack on a drug rehabilitation centre, a claim Pakistan has rejected.

In a post on X, Tarar said the Afghan Taliban regime is “peddling yet another falsehood by alleging that Pakistan targeted a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. This claim is entirely baseless. Pakistan, in its ongoing war against terrorism, is engaging only those 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.”

 

He added that the strikes were “precise, deliberate, and professional,” and that “no hospital, no drug rehabilitation centre, and no civilian facility was targeted.” Tarar said video footage released by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) confirmed that ammunition storage sites were struck, and that Afghan Taliban officials had repeatedly used false narratives, doctored claims, and old visuals to mislead audiences.

 

He concluded that Pakistan will continue to take measures to defend its citizens, degrade terrorist capability, and deny safe haven to those who wage terror against Pakistan from across the border.