The UN Office on Drugs and Crime says it did not support the Omid hospital in Kabul that was destroyed in a Pakistani airstrike, citing its control by the Taliban interior ministry.
Polleak Ok Serei, the UNODC representative in Afghanistan, said the agency did not back the facility because it was under the Taliban’s interior ministry.
He said the UN office believes drug treatment centres should be managed by the public health ministry and that rehabilitation must be voluntary and free from coercion.
During Pakistani strikes on Monday night in Kabul and Nangarhar, at least three bombs hit the Omid drug treatment centre in eastern Kabul. The Taliban said 400 people were killed and 250 others injured. A diplomatic source in Kabul told Afghanistan International the death toll could reach hundreds.
The Omid centre is located at a former NATO base in eastern Kabul. It was run by the Taliban’s interior ministry and is reported to be near Taliban military facilities.
Ok Serei said that under international humanitarian law, medical facilities must be kept away from military targets, and parties to a conflict must avoid attacking civilian objects, including hospitals.
