Pakistan's Airstrike on Kabul Drug Rehabilitation Centre Killed Hundreds of Civilians — Amnesty Demands Investigation

Last updated: 22 September 2026

On March 16, 2026, Pakistan's military carried out an airstrike on Camp Phoenix — a former US and NATO military base on the outskirts of Kabul that had been operating since 2016 as Omid, one of the largest drug rehabilitation centers in Afghanistan. The facility had capacity for approximately 2,000 residents. Pakistani officials claimed the target was an ammunition depot. Amnesty International, responding on March 19, said the civilian death toll raised grave concerns under international humanitarian law.

Contested Death Tolls, Undeniable Civilian Harm

The exact death toll remains under verification. The Taliban stated that over 400 civilians were killed and more than 200 injured. The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) had independently confirmed 143 deaths at the time of Amnesty's statement. Prior to this attack, UNAMA had already documented at least 76 civilian casualties from the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict since it escalated in February 2026.

The rehabilitation centre's civilian character was well-documented internationally. It had operated for nearly a decade on the Camp Phoenix site and was widely known to humanitarian organizations, NGOs, and UNAMA as a civilian health facility. Amnesty's Deputy Regional Director stated bluntly: "Any reasonable assessment and information gathering would have concluded that the camp had a high civilian presence."

Even if an ammunition depot was present inside the wider camp, the decision to attack should have been weighed against any excessive harm that it was likely to cause to civilians. The scale of death and destruction raises serious concerns about whether the Pakistani military conducted an adequate proportionality assessment.

Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International Deputy Regional Director, Research

International Humanitarian Law Obligations

Under IHL, any party to a conflict must take all feasible precautions to spare civilians and civilian objects before launching a strike. The proportionality principle requires that anticipated civilian harm not be excessive relative to the expected military advantage. In the case of a known rehabilitation facility housing up to 2,000 people, Amnesty says this threshold was clearly not met.

Amnesty called on Pakistan to publish the information it acted upon before ordering the strike, and to conduct an independent, impartial, and timely investigation into the civilian casualties — with findings made public and with a view to ensuring accountability. The organization also called on all parties to the escalating Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict to strictly adhere to IHL.

A Conflict With Growing Civilian Costs

Pakistan launched its current military campaign — dubbed "Operation Ghazab Lil Haq" — in response to cross-border attacks from Afghan territory. The conflict has now killed civilians on both sides of the border and risks spiraling into a broader regional crisis with no clear end point or ceasefire mechanism. International observers warn that the absence of accountability mechanisms is likely to accelerate harm to civilians.

What Our Experts Say

Striking a drug rehabilitation centre where two thousand people sleep is not a marginal error — it is either a catastrophic failure of precaution or deliberate disregard for civilian life. Either way, it demands an independent investigation, not a press conference.

Senior Human Rights Expert, The Human Rights