Press Release (18 March 2026)
CITIZENS INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS THE STRIKE ON THE KABUL HOSPITAL AND CALLS FOR A PROPER INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCIDENT
On the 17th of March, 2026, an airstrike was launched on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, killing more than 400 people. The attack is a consequence of the series of armed conflicts between Afghanistan and Pakistan that began in late February 2026 following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar, Paktika, and Khost provinces. Thus far, no parties have claimed responsibility, as both sides deny any involvement.
Since hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalated at the end of last month, thousands of lives are affected, with tens of thousands having been displaced by the fighting and hundreds of deaths reported. Citizens International, once again, calls on both sides to exercise restraint and pursue dialogue.
We urge civil society, world leaders, public intellectuals, and citizens everywhere to pressure all parties toward an immediate end to hostilities, move toward peaceful resolution, and ensure humanitarian aid reaches those desperately in need.
We also call for an independent and transparent investigation to ensure those responsible are held to account in line with international standards. Moreover, those results of the investigation must be made public.
It is important to recognize that civilians and civilian infrastructure enjoy robust protections under international humanitarian law as stipulated in the Geneva Convention (Article 3) and the Rome Statute of the ICC (1998). The rules of armed conflict require that every attack adhere to three core principles: distinguishing between combatants and non-combatants, ensuring that anticipated harm is not excessive relative to military advantage, and taking all feasible precautions to minimize civilian casualties.
Medical facilities receive an especially heightened level of protection under these rules, as clearly stated in the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), Article 18, which says that civilian hospitals “may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.”
In this spirit, we insist that all parties take effective measures to protect civilians, in line with their obligations under international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Many lives hang in the balance, and the cost of lost peace is grave as the people of this region have already endured so much—decades of war, displacement, and dispossession.
Imran Mohd Rasid
Executive Director
Citizens International
