India has strongly criticised Pakistan at the United Nations for conducting air-bombing operations in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan and also raised concerns about the deportation of Afghan nationals. Speaking at the UN General Assembly event marking the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, accused Pakistan of spreading narratives about Islamophobia while ignoring issues in its own region. He referred to the treatment of Ahmadiyyas, the deportation of Afghan refugees, and recent airstrikes in Afghanistan. Harish also warned about the growing tendency of both state and non-state actors to use religious identity for political purposes.

Afghan authorities claimed that an airstrike on Monday evening hit the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul, a 2000-bed facility for drug rehabilitation. A Taliban spokesperson said the strike killed about 400 people and injured around 250 others, with large parts of the hospital destroyed. Rescue teams were reportedly working to control fires and recover victims.

Pakistan, however, rejected these allegations. According to reports citing Pakistani security sources, the claim that the hospital was targeted was described as “ridiculous.” Pakistani officials said the strikes were aimed at Taliban-linked facilities rather than civilian sites. Afghan media reported that explosions caused damage to multiple homes and buildings in Kabul. Khaama Press stated that a Pakistani aircraft also struck a Taliban military facility in the Ghani Khel district of Nangarhar province on the same evening.

The report further noted that Taliban forces allegedly launched drone attacks inside Pakistan, which led to retaliatory strikes across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari condemned these reported drone attacks, calling them a “red line.” Pakistani media outlet Samaa News said the country’s armed forces carried out strikes in Kabul and Nangarhar targeting Taliban-linked locations. According to the report, the attacks destroyed technical infrastructure and ammunition storage facilities. Security sources maintained that no hospital was targeted and insisted the strikes were focused on militant sites.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information stated that the operations were carefully conducted to avoid civilian casualties and were directed at military installations and terrorist support infrastructure linked to the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan-based militants operating from Afghanistan. As tensions between the two countries rise, Afghan media also reported that heavy Pakistani artillery fire near the Durand Line forced around 7500 families to flee their homes in parts of Kunar province. Displaced residents said the shelling destroyed houses and killed livestock, leaving many families living in tents for nearly two weeks despite the ongoing month of Ramadan.