Barbaric: India condemns Pakistani airstrike on Kabul hospital

In an official statement, the Indian government said: “India unequivocally condemns Pakistan's barbaric airstrike on the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul on the night of March 16.”

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) called the strike a “cowardly and unconscionable act of violence” that claimed the lives of a large number of civilians. “This facility 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 added.

MEA further condemned the attack as a “heinous act of aggression,” noting that it violated Afghanistan’s sovereignty and posed a direct threat to regional peace and stability.

The statement said: “It reflects Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behaviour and repeated attempts to externalize internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence beyond its borders.”

The attack, carried out during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan, was described as “all the more reprehensible.”

MEA emphasised: “There is no faith, no law, and no morality that can justify the deliberate targeting of a hospital and its patients.”

India urged the international community to hold the perpetrators accountable and called for an end to the wanton targeting of civilians in Afghanistan.

Expressing condolences to the victims’ families, the MEA added: “We also reiterate our unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Afghanistan,” while wishing a speedy recovery for the injured.

According to Taliban officials, at least 400 people were killed and around 250 others injured in the strike. The Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a 2,000-bed facility, specialized in treating drug addiction.

The incident marks a sharp escalation in tensions between the two neighbouring countries, following weeks of cross-border clashes and aerial attacks.