Afghanistan vows to avenge Pakistani strike on Kabul drug centre

2026-03-18 - 13:01

Volunteers of the Red Crescent shift the bodies of the victims of the Pakistani airstrikes in Kabul. (EPA Images pic) KABUL: Afghanistan’s interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani on Wednesday promised retribution for this week’s Pakistani air strike that killed hundreds at a Kabul drugs rehabilitation centre. “We will take revenge,” the Taliban government minister said at the mass burial of some of the victims in the capital, calling those behind Monday night’s bombing “criminals”. “We are not weak and helpless. You will see the consequences of your crimes,” he added. The Taliban authorities have said that about 400 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in the strike, which was the deadliest attack yet in the recent upsurge in violence between the two neighbours. Not all victims are being buried in Kabul, as some bodies have been sent for burial in their home provinces, interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani told AFP earlier. The Norwegian Refugee Council said on Wednesday that “hundreds” were killed and wounded, in the first independent confirmation of the heavy death toll. Pakistan has denied Taliban government claims that the centre was deliberately targeted and said it had carried out precision strikes on “military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”. The strike has renewed calls for an end to the conflict, which has seen strikes on both sides of the shared border. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harbouring extremists behind attacks on its territory. Kabul denies doing so.