Four months after calling on Pakistani authorities to explain a devastating aerial bombardment in the Afghan capital, Amnesty International has published a comprehensive investigation demanding that the March 16, 2026, airstrikes on Kabul’s Omid Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre be investigated as a possible war crime. The human rights organization’s findings directly challenge the official narrative put forward by the Pakistani military, revealing that the attack breached the special protections afforded to medical facilities under international humanitarian law (IHL).
The Core Findings: A Deliberate Attack on a Protected Facility
On March 16, 2026, at approximately 9:00 PM, just as evening tarawih prayers for the holy month of Ramadan were concluding, Pakistani military aircraft launched precision airstrikes against the Omid Centre. At the time of the attack, the facility housed more than 1,000 patients undergoing treatment for substance dependence. According to independent verifications completed by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in May 2026, the bombardment killed at least 269 civilians and wounded 122 others. Taliban authorities in Kabul claimed the actual death toll exceeded 400, citing the extensive destruction of the facility which left many bodies completely unidentifiable.
Amnesty International’s weapons experts analyzed digital evidence of bomb remnants shared directly from the site and concluded that at least one of the munitions deployed was a Takbir precision-guided bomb. This finding aligns with the Pakistani military’s own public statements that precision-guided munitions were utilized in the operation, confirming that the Omid Centre was targeted deliberately rather than hit by accident.
Under international humanitarian law, healthcare and rehabilitation facilities enjoy strict protections. Amnesty International’s investigation found no evidence supporting Pakistan’s claims that the site was being used for military purposes or as an active weapons depot. “The attack on the Omid Centre constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law – possibly amounting to a war crime,” stated Isabelle Lassee, Amnesty International’s Acting Regional Director for South Asia. “Given the widely available information that the site had been used as a medical facility for more than a decade, this reflects a major failure in military planning by Pakistan that led to a significant loss of civilian life.”
Pakistan’s Claims vs. Forensic Evidence
The day following the strike, Attaulah Tarar, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting, claimed on the social media platform X that the military had targeted “technical support infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities” at two Kabul locations, including the Omid Centre. Tarar shared drone and fighter aircraft video feeds, asserting that secondary detonations visible in the footage proved the presence of a major ammunition depot.
However, Amnesty International’s open-source investigators and weapons experts conducted a rigorous forensic analysis of the published footage alongside more than 60 photos and videos captured in the immediate aftermath of the strike. The organization also reviewed over 30 high-resolution satellite images spanning from April 2023 to March 15, 2026. The analysis concluded that there were no secondary explosions—which typically follow strikes on authentic ammunition dumps—and no evidence of weapons or military hardware at the site.
Physical evidence on the ground further contradicted the military’s claims. Witness testimonies and physical debris from the three heavily damaged sectors of the compound revealed only civilian storage. One of the destroyed buildings in the south-west was used to store coal, wood, winter clothing, and shoes for the patients. “Anywhere I stepped, there was a dead body,” a healthcare worker involved in the recovery efforts told investigators, describing the horrific scenes in the ruins of the main residential hangar in the north-east sector where patients slept and dined.
The History and Visibility of the Omid Centre
The Omid Centre was established in 2016 on the grounds of a former NATO base. Initially operating as a vocational training center, it was expanded after 2021 into a massive 2,000-bed drug rehabilitation complex. The adjacent Ibn-e-Sina Hospital, which provided essential healthcare services to the center’s residents, was also located within the compound.
Amnesty International emphasized that the facility’s humanitarian function was highly visible and publicly documented. The site featured at least two large local-language signboards above the main gate and inside the camp, clearly identifying it as a rehabilitation facility. Furthermore, the center’s operations had been featured in international media, including a 2023 Al Jazeera documentary. Satellite imagery captured on March 13, 2026—just three days prior to the attack—showed large groups of civilians moving freely within the courtyard, a clear indicator of its active non-military use.
Under IHL, even if a military force suspects a medical facility is being used for hostile acts, it must issue an effective warning with a reasonable time limit before launching an attack. Amnesty International confirmed that no warning was issued by Pakistani forces prior to the March 16 strike, precluding any possibility of evacuating the vulnerable patients.
Broader Context of Cross-Border Escalation
The airstrike on the Omid Centre occurred amid a severe escalation of cross-border hostilities between Pakistan and the Taliban, which began in October 2025. The conflict has exacted a devastating toll on civilians. Between January and March 2026 alone, UNAMA documented over 750 civilian casualties in Afghanistan resulting from cross-border actions, including 372 deaths. Subsequent Pakistani airstrikes on June 28, 2026, in Paktya, Paktika, and Kunar provinces claimed at least 28 additional civilian lives. On the Pakistani side, media reports indicate that Afghan mortar shelling has killed at least seven civilians in border regions.
On July 9, 2026, Amnesty International formally contacted Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to request details regarding internal investigations into the targeting failure and to seek evidence supporting the “ammunition store” claim. As of the publication of their report, the Pakistani government has failed to provide a response.
“Failure to investigate serious violations, such as the attack on the Omid Centre, shows an alarming disregard for international law and risks entrenching impunity,” Lassee warned, calling for independent prosecutions of those responsible, including under the doctrine of command responsibility.