Pakistan rejects the Taliban’s claim of a weaning strike, calling it deliberate disinformation

Pakistan has rejected Afghanistan’s claims that it struck a rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, killing 400 people and injuring 250 others.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) took issue with X, labeling the “misreporting of facts” as intended to “stir up sentiments covering illegitimate support for cross-border terrorism.”

Thus, the ministry dismissed Afghanistan’s claims as “false and misleading”, adding that “Pakistan on the night of March 16 precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure, including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij in Kabul and Nangarhar.”

The MoIB added: “Post-attack detonation of stockpiled ammunition used by the Master Terror Proxy also contradicts the false claim.”

Read: Precision strikes hit Taliban-affiliated locations in Kabul, Nangarhar

According to Hamdullah Fitrat, the deputy spokesman for the Taliban, the airstrike took place at 21 Monday, targeting the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital.

Fitrat wrote that “large parts” of the 2,000-bed facility had been destroyed, with “serious concerns about a high number of casualties.” The spokesman said the death toll had reached 400, with 250 injured, adding that rescue teams were working to control the fire and recover the remaining bodies.

The MoIB, in response, tweeted that Omid Hospital was actually several kilometers away from Camp Phoenix, “the military terrorist ammunition and equipment storage site precisely targeted last night.” The ministry added: “It can also be seen that the actual hospital is a multi-storey structure,” comparing it to the “military/terrorist infrastructure actually targeted.”

“The difference and the lie is plain to see,” MoIB wrote. Further, it questioned, “Why would an alleged drug rehabilitation facility be co-located with a lethal ammunition storage facility in a military camp?”

Fitrat tweeted a picture of a crowd and said: “Innocent civilians and addicts who were mostly killed last night in the 2,000-bed hospital due to the bombing by (Pakistani military circles).”

The Ministry of Information responded by tweeting that the claim “circulated by the Afghan Taliban spokesperson using an old photo to claim recent casualties is a clear case of deliberate disinformation.”

This, it added, was aimed at misleading public perception. The MoIB added that the image that has been presented is from May 2023 and had been shared by the Afghan Taliban’s Ministry of Interior. This, it said, exposed the untruth of current allegations.

Read also: China continues mediation efforts between Pakistan and Afghanistan

“Reusing outdated images to support today’s claims reflects a calculated attempt to fabricate a misleading narrative and create confusion regarding actual events,” the MoIB wrote. It added that such actions “undermine credibility and highlight a pattern of information manipulation through the misrepresentation of archival material as actual evidence.”

The ministry concluded the tweet by saying that the Taliban regime’s claim is “rejected as false and misleading, intended to distort facts, mislead the public and serve propaganda purposes by projecting a fabricated version of events.”

In another tweet, the Ministry of Information attached images of the “Afghan official handle” deleting the first official post that claimed a drug rehab had been hit. It questioned whether the visuals were generated or AI that couldn’t stand up to being fact-checked.

The development comes as Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, launched last month, continues following renewed clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. It was launched after Afghan Taliban forces fired at several locations, prompting swift military retaliation from Pakistan.

The neighboring countries have since then been engaged in escalating hostilities along the border. Clashes intensified after Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to earlier Pakistani airstrikes targeting terrorist positions.