Amnesty International urges probe into civilian casualties from Pakistani airstrikes

KABUL: Amnesty International on Tuesday called for a full, independent, and impartial investigation into reports of civilian casualties following recent Pakistani airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan. The rights group expressed concern over reports that civilians were killed and wounded in strikes targeting parts of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces, stressing that harm to non-combatants must not be repeated. Amnesty cited previous findings by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), which attributed the deaths of 70 civilians and injuries to 478 others to Pakistani military operations between October and December 2025. Pakistani fighter jets reportedly carried out strikes around midnight on Saturday in the districts of Khogyani, Ghani Khil, and Behsud in Nangarhar province, as well as Barmal district in Paktika province. The Taliban Defense Ministry said it would deliver a “calculated response” at an appropriate time, describing the strikes on civilians and religious centers as evidence of what it called intelligence and security failures by Pakistan’s military. Pakistani officials have said the strikes targeted hideouts of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), claiming that around 70 militants were killed. The Taliban have rejected that account, calling the attacks “aggression against civilians” and saying more than 20 civilians, including women and children, were killed in Behsud district alone.