About 500 civilians have died in the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, says the UN – National
Cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan killed nearly 500 people in Afghanistan and injured more than 1,000 between October and the end of June, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
In a report on the human rights situation, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said it reported that 499 people were killed and 1,216 injured as a result of the neighboring fighting that defied international peace efforts.
In another incident, the report said, civilians who were trying to rescue others from the debris of an airstrike were hit by a second one.
The report also examines other human rights issues, including the deadly crackdown on protests in western Afghanistan over restrictions on women’s clothing, and laws legalizing child marriage.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants
Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting on and off for months. Tensions escalated in February, when Afghan forces attacked Pakistan in retaliation for the bombing of Pakistani planes inside Afghanistan, and Islamabad declared “open war.”
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of harboring militants who have killed thousands of people over the years in Pakistan, particularly the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. The group is allied with the Afghan Taliban, which has ruled Afghanistan since taking power in 2021 amid the withdrawal of US-led forces. Kabul denies this.
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In the deadliest attack of the war, a Pakistani airstrike hit a drug treatment center in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in March, killing hundreds of civilians. Human rights group Amnesty International said last week that the bombing should be investigated as a possible war crime.
Pakistan has not given the total number of casualties due to cross-border fighting in its territory. The UN team, known by its acronym UNAMA, noted that it was only authorized to monitor events in Afghanistan.
Pakistan denies targeting civilians
In a written response to the UNAMA report, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Afghanistan’s Taliban government “continues to maintain an enabling environment for many (military) organizations.”
The response did not mention Afghan civilian casualties but said the Pakistani military’s strikes were “specifically targeted at terrorist hideouts, sanctuaries and support infrastructure linked to terrorist groups inside Pakistan.”
The hundreds of dead counted by UNAMA include 22 – five of them children – killed in two consecutive air strikes on a building in eastern Paktia on June 28. At least 185 others were injured.
Most of the deaths and injuries were caused by the second strike, when local people tried to rescue the victims of the first.
“International humanitarian law gives special protections to medical and social workers, including first responders. Attacks on them while they are doing their job is absolutely prohibited,” said Fiona Frazer, director of human rights at UNAMA.
Afghan women still face severe restrictions
The UNAMA report also highlighted the problems faced by women, who are severely restricted by Afghanistan’s Taliban government. They include a ban on education beyond primary school, strict dress codes, a ban on working in almost all taught occupations and a requirement to be accompanied by a male relative when outside the home.
The report details an ongoing crackdown in the western city of Herat in June, where at least 30 women were arrested for alleged dress code violations. At least one person was killed and several others injured when authorities opened fire during a rare anti-arrest protest.
Laws governing women’s clothing state that they can only go out in public if they are wearing a full hijab – which includes a headscarf and full body covering – and a face covering that covers only the eyes. Regulations are enforced by the dreaded Department for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
However, the interpretation of the rules and what constitutes wearing the hijab correctly varies and can be unreasonably enforced.
The UNAMA report said Vice and Virtue officials visited clinics and shops in different parts of the country to advise them to refuse entry to women unaccompanied by a male relative.
The report also said that the new divorce laws “completely legalize child marriage” by allowing child marriage contracts to be arranged.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
