Pakistan to pause Afghan strikes for Eid, two days after deadly Kabul attack | Afghanistan

Pakistan announced a five-day pause in attacks on neighboring Afghanistan while a mass funeral was held for hundreds of victims killed in an attack on a drug rehabilitation center in Kabul on Monday.

The Afghan Taliban government said more than 400 people were killed and 265 injured in the attack, which took place while people and staff at the center were praying days before the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Pakistan denies deliberately targeting the drug rehabilitation centre, saying it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”. It accuses Kabul of harboring extremist groups that launch cross-border attacks on its territory.

Late Wednesday, Pakistani information minister Attaullah Tarar said on social media that the country would temporarily pause military operations against Afghanistan from midnight to midnight Monday.

He said that the break to celebrate the end of Ramadan was at the request of “brotherly Islamic countries” Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Türkiye.

However, Tarar added that military operations against Afghanistan “will immediately resume with renewed intensity” if any “cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident” occurs in Pakistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Afghan Taliban government, announced on Wednesday the temporary suspension of its military operations against Pakistan.

Monday’s airstrike on the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment hospital was the deadliest single attack in more than three weeks of war between the two countries.

A mass funeral was held for hundreds of victims on Wednesday, where coffins were transported in ambulances by Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers.

Many relatives, who did not yet know whether their loved ones were alive or dead, continued to gather at the site of the destroyed Omid hospital.

Mazar, 50, who gave only one name, told Reuters: “We came here to look for our patient, he is missing.” “We came to find out if he’s okay, if he’s alive, or what happened to him.”

Mazar said that his relative was admitted to the center for the second time and no information was given about him. “We looked at the lists, but his name was not on the list of the living. Maybe he was injured or killed,” he said.

Another man, who did not want to give his name, said that he came to look for his relative on Tuesday but was not allowed to enter the center. “We couldn’t find his body, and his name is not on the list of survivors among the injured,” he said. “We came back today to get more information.”

Afghanistan’s interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, who attended Wednesday’s mass funeral, said those killed were innocent victims targeted by “criminals”.

“We will take revenge,” he said, warning those behind the Monday night bombing: “We are not weak and helpless. You will see the consequences of your crimes.”

However, Haqqani added that Afghan officials do not want war and are “trying to solve problems through diplomacy.”

Survivors of the attack recalled horrific scenes of how parts of the treatment center were instantly reduced to rubble after the bombing. Images taken from the scene show volunteers rummaging through crushed metal and pipes. Clothing, mattresses and blankets were visible in the debris.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), whose teams were in the region immediately after the attacks, told Agence France-Presse that hundreds of people were killed and injured.

Afghan interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qanie said: “Some of the bodies could not be identified and are currently in the forensic department. Some bodies were intact and handed over to their families. Others were completely destroyed, collected almost like pieces of meat.”

Najibullah Farooqi, head of Afghanistan’s legal medical directorate, said the bodies were pulled from the rubble late Tuesday night and handed over to families. “After their identities were established, some bodies were handed over. However, we still have many bodies,” he said.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are arguing over the target of the air strike.

Afghan officials said the attack targeted a rehabilitation center that has been operating in the area of ​​a former NATO military base for nearly a decade.

The Pakistani military said the facility was used to store drones and military-grade ammunition and to train suicide bombers.

The EU, UN agencies and international aid groups have said civilian and medical facilities should not be targeted during conflict.

Aid groups including the NRC called for de-escalation in a joint statement, saying more than 115,000 civilians, including many children, had been displaced. It was stated that the conflict also led to the closure of borders, interrupted the flow of imports and led to an increase in the prices of basic goods..

The conflict between allies-turned-enemies began last year when Islamabad accused Kabul of harboring and supporting militants who have launched attacks across Pakistan; this accusation was denied by the Afghan Taliban government.

The conflict eased amid efforts by countries including China to mediate, but flared up again last month when Pakistan directly targeted the Afghan Taliban and not just the sites of Pakistani Taliban militants that Islamabad said were across the border.