At least 400 dead in drug rehabilitation center strike in Kabul, Afghan officials say : NPR
Afghanistan says Pakistan is to blame for a strike on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul that killed at least 400 people, the deadliest attack since fighting began weeks ago.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Emergency crews worked for hours on Tuesday to retrieve bodies from a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul. A Pakistani airstrike hit it. Afghan authorities say the strike killed at least 400 people. It would be easy for Americans to miss, given our own war and other distractions, but Afghanistan and Pakistan have been fighting across their border. Betsy Joles reports from Islamabad on a conflict that has killed civilians on both sides of that border.
BETSY JOLES, BYLINE: Families gathered at the site of the attack to get any information they could. They say their relatives were seeking treatment for addiction inside. Sahil (ph), who, like many Afghans goes by only one name, was looking for his brother, Mohammad Yehya (ph). He says he was told to check the hospitals nearby.
SAHIL: (Non-English language spoken).
JOLES: Then Sahil was directed to the morgue, where women and children stood outside. But his brother was not among the burnt faces covered in white cloth. Following the strike, the Taliban’s foreign minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, vowed that Afghanistan would defend itself. Pakistan insists it hit terrorist infrastructure of militant groups it claims are supported by the Afghan Taliban government, and it’s doubling down on that claim. This is from Pakistan TV, the English news arm of Pakistan’s state broadcaster.
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UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Now the Afghan Taliban regime is pushing a false narrative. It claims that Pakistan targeted a hospital. Let’s set the record straight.
JOLES: Over the past three weeks, Pakistan has also gone after the Afghan Taliban directly, claiming to have killed hundreds of their fighters in air and ground attacks. Afrasiab Khattak, a former Pakistani senator and regional affairs analyst, says the fighting has already had a significant human toll.
AFRASIAB KHATTAK: Unfortunately, the common civilian population is at the receiving end.
JOLES: Afghan forces have also launched attacks on Pakistani border posts and sent drones into their neighbor’s territory. In addition to civilian deaths, the U.N. migration agency says tens of thousands of people along their shared border have had to flee their homes because of mortar and artillery shelling.
With Fazelminallah Qazizai in Kabul, for NPR News, I’m Betsy Joles in Islamabad.
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