4 min readMar 17, 2026 11:46 AM IST
Star spinner Rashid Khan and numerous other Afghanistan cricket stars have condemned a strike on a hospital in the country’s capital Kabul that has left a reported 400 people dead. Afghanistan has accused Pakistan of the carrying out the attack.
Rashid, who was captain of the Afghanistan T20I team until the end of their campaign in the recently concluded 2026 T20 World Cup, called upon the United Nations and other human rights agencies to “thoroughly investigate this latest atrocity and hold the perpetrators to account”.
“I am deeply saddened by the latest reports of civilian casualties as a result of Pakistani airstrikes in Kabul. Targeting civilian homes, educational facilities or medical infrastructure, either intentional or by mistake, is a war crime. The sheer disregard for human lives, especially during the holy month of Ramadan, is sickening and deeply concerning. It will only fuel division and hatred. I call upon the UN and other human rights agencies to thoroughly investigate this latest atrocity and hold the perpetrators to account. I stand with my Afghan people in this difficult time. We shall heal, and we will rise as a nation. We always do. Inshallah!” said Rashid on his X handle.
Rashid’s teammates also voiced their thoughts on X. Veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi said that “hope was extinguished” at the hospital. The facility that had been struck was an 2,000-bed rehabilitation centre for drug addiction. Other Afghanistan players to react included spinner Noor Ahmad, pacer Naveen-ul-Haq and batsman Ibrahim Zadran, who recently replaced Rashid as Afghanistan’s T20I captain.
Tonight in Kabul, hope was extinguished at a hospital. Young men seeking treatment were murdered in a bombing by the Pakistani military regime. Mothers waited at the gates, calling their sons’ names. On the 28th night of Ramadan, their lives were cut short. pic.twitter.com/p12617D4de
— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007) March 16, 2026
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I am deeply saddened by the latest reports of civilian casualties as a result of Pakistani airstrikes in Kabul. Targeting civilian homes, educational facilities or medical infrastructure, either intentional or by mistake, is a war crime. The sheer disregard for human lives,… pic.twitter.com/DbFRRh2qAJ
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) March 16, 2026
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Tonight I heard a massive explosion here in Kabul. Moments later we saw flames rising into the sky from a hospital.
Our brothers who intended to fast tomorrow are now gone, or wounded. My thoughts are with every family grieving tonight.
Kabul is in pain. We pray for justice.
— Ibrahim Zadran (@IZadran18) March 16, 2026
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Heartbreaking ?? https://t.co/ME3zFuWXBn
— Noor Ahmad Lakanwal (@noor_ahmad_15) March 17, 2026
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Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat stated on X that the strike hit the Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital around 9 PM local time. The alleged Pakistani attack destroyed large sections of the 2,000-bed facility, with the death toll reaching 400 and roughly 250 others injured. Sharing a picture of a charred hand, presumably from the attack, Fitrat said on X: “The hospital of hope that turned into a slaughterhouse of dreams.”
Pakistan, however, flatly denied the allegation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman Mosharraf Zaidi dismissed the allegations as baseless, insisting no hospital was targeted in Kabul. Pakistan’s Ministry of Information said the strikes “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
The fighting erupted between the two nations late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes inside that Kabul said killed civilians. Those clashes also disrupted a Qatar-brokered ceasefire from October, one that had halted earlier fighting that killed dozens of soldiers, civilians, and suspected militants.
