AT LEAST 372 Afghan civilians were killed in conflict between Afghan government forces and Pakistan in the first three months of 2026, according to a United Nations report released on Tuesday. More than half of the deaths were linked to airstrikes on a drug rehabilitation facility in Kabul.
Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have remained tense since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and escalated into what Pakistan’s defence minister described in February as “open war”.
Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban government of sheltering militants linked to a rise in attacks inside the country, especially the Pakistan Taliban, which has carried out attacks for years.
Afghan officials have denied the allegations and accused Pakistan of harbouring hostile groups and violating Afghan sovereignty.
“Between 1 January and 31 March 2026, UNAMA documented a total of 372 civilians killed and 397 injured as a result of cross-border armed violence” between Afghanistan’s security forces and Pakistani military forces, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said.
The UN mission said the report was based on checks with three independent sources and noted that the three-month toll was higher than any figure recorded by UNAMA for the same period since 2011.
According to the report, 13 women, 46 children — 31 boys and 15 girls — and 313 men were killed in Afghanistan between January 1 and March 31.
In a written response included in the report, Islamabad said 130 Pakistani civilians and security personnel had been killed since the start of the year.
On Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry summoned Kabul’s top envoy after a suicide attack at the weekend killed 15 people, most of them police officers. Islamabad said the attack was “masterminded by terrorists residing in Afghanistan”.
Cross-border clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan intensified in October last year, leaving dozens dead. After a temporary decline, fighting resumed at the end of February.
“The leading cause of civilian casualties was airstrikes (64 per cent), with the remaining caused by indirect cross-border firing” and one “targeted killing” of an NGO worker, the UN said.
The report said the high number of male casualties was linked to the March 16 airstrikes on a Kabul drug treatment hospital that admitted only male patients. At least 269 people were killed and 122 wounded in the attack.
Many bodies “could not be identified because they were reduced to dismembered body parts”, while others were unrecognisable “due to extensive burns”, the report said.
“The real figure may be significantly higher,” the UN added.
The Taliban government previously said more than 400 civilians were killed in the incident.
Pakistan denied targeting civilian facilities in its written response included in the report.
“Pakistan’s actions were directed solely against terrorist and military infrastructure,” Islamabad said.
“no hospital, drug rehabilitation centre, or civilian facility was targeted,” it added.
UNAMA urged Afghan authorities to “compile a record of the missing” from the hospital strike so relatives could get information about those unaccounted for.
The UN mission also called on both sides to respect international law and avoid targeting health facilities or firing shells and grenades into civilian areas.
The report also detailed the death of a female Afghan NGO employee in Nuristan on March 19 during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, despite a ceasefire agreement reached a day earlier.
According to the UN, as she travelled home with her husband and three children, “Pakistani military forces began firing at their vehicle”.
The family left the vehicle and attempted to cross a river to reach safety when “the NGO worker was shot in her right side and fell into the water and drowned with her three-year-old son”.
Pakistan and Afghanistan later held talks in China in early April and agreed to avoid further escalation, according to Beijing.
While incidents have declined, clashes have continued.
On April 27, Afghan authorities said seven civilians were killed and 85 wounded after shelling struck several locations, including a university in Asadabad.
(With inputs from agencies)
