Pakistan rejects Afghanistan’s accusation that it targeted a hospital in Kabul

(18 Mar 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Islamabad - 18 March 2026 1. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar arriving for interview 2. Tarar talking to reporter 3. SOUNDBITE (English) Attaullah Tarar, Pakistani Information Minister: “Where we carried out these strikes, Omid hospital is way way away from this site, and Omid hospital is further down the road many kilometers away, so that Omid hospital a 2,000 bed hospital, that's out of question, and that was the first false claim they (Taliban) made, then we had the Afghan Islamic Emirate account posting a video of this drug rehabilitation center, which was later on deleted.” 4. Tarar talking to reporter 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Attaullah Tarar, Pakistani Information Minister: “Our strikes have been very precise, and these strikes were carried out at an ammunition depot in Kabul, in the aftermath of which we saw fumes and flames in the atmosphere in Kabul, we saw subsequent consequential blasts being carried out because there was ammunition, there were technical equipment there were arms there in the depot.” 6. Tarar talking 7. SOUNDBITE (English) Attaullah Tarar, Pakistani Information Minister: “Now how are they to proof that they actually had a drug rehabilitation center right next to an ammunition depot which was formally camp phoenix, a NATO military base, so you see there are a lot of questions to be asked, and the Afghan side has been unable to prove his case, because they have been training terrorists, they have camps where terrorists are trained to carry out suicide bombing, to carry out incident of terrorism.” 8. Tarar talking 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Attaullah Tarar, Pakistani Information Minister: “We strongly refuse these allegations, and we believe that the Afghan side has a lot of explaining to do, because they have been giving out fake and false information which we've been calling out every other day, so the Afghan Taliban regime which have been resorting to fake news, false narratives really needs to prove its case, because we are strongly refuting this and we are strongly denying this, and they have a lot of explaining to do.” 10. Tarar talking to reporter 11. SOUNDBITE (English) Attaullah Tarar, Pakistani Information Minister: “We made efforts for mediation, in Qatar, in Turkey, our deputy prime minister, our defense minister and our intelligence chief they all went to Kabul to talk it out, but unfortunately the talks were taken as sign of weakness, and the Afghan Taliban regime fail to stop these incidents in which their land was being used, they were even providing weapons and they were even providing weapons and they were providing all-out support to these terrorists." 12. Various of Tarar talking STORYLINE: Pakistan rejected Afghanistan’s accusation that it targeted the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, insisting its strikes in Kabul and eastern Afghanistan on Monday had been against military facilities. It has dismissed Afghan claims of hundreds of casualties as propaganda. In an interview with The Associated Press in Islamabad Wednesday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Pakistan had "only targeted terrorist infrastructure.” “We have just gone after the Afghan Taliban regime, their military setups, their terrorist infrastructure, and all the setups which are supporting or promoting terrorists,” Tarar said. The conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan has seen repeated cross-border clashes as well as airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including several in the capital, since it began in late February, despite international calls for a ceasefire. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...