Natiq Malikzada@natiqmalikzada
Here is my understanding of Pakistan’s bombing, which has left many civilians killed and injured.
According to the New York Times, at least 75 bodies were seen. An initial assessment from a UN says 180 people were killed. The Taliban are obviously exaggerating by claiming 400 deaths.
Many people have claimed that the targeted area was not a rehabilitation centre. THAT IS COMPLETELY FALSE. There was a rehab centre there, and it was a well known one. Anyone in Afghanistan who has had an addicted family member knows that place. My uncle was treated there twice, the last time in November last year. I also spoke with three people, including a pharmacist from Panjshir who lost his nephew in that rehab centre last night. He had been admitted there a month ago for treatment.
The rehab centre was next to a former US military camp. According to @JamshidAmiri, the Camp Phoenix was one of the most important US military installations in Afghanistan and served as a logistical hub for US camps across the country. Part of Camp Phoenix had later been converted by the previous Afghanistan government into a treatment centre for drug addicts, where thousands from across the country received care. So yes, it is true that the rehab centre was located inside a former US military base. But it is equally true that it was a rehabilitation centre, it existed before the Taliban, and it was not built by them.
Last year, an article published in the Daily Mail reported that the Taliban were building drones at another part of the former Camp Phoenix base. The source of that claim is unclear. But even if it were true, that would not erase the existence of the rehabilitation centre, nor would it make the civilians inside it expendable. If Pakistan targeted the wider camp without distinguishing between alleged military activity and a known civilian treatment facility, that is itself deeply incriminating. It would show either recklessness or deliberate disregard for civilian life. Neither is defensible and Pakistan should be hold responsible for it.
This is also exactly why lazy propaganda from some people is so dangerous. They hear "former base" or "Taliban presence" and immediately act as if every person or every building inside that area becomes a legitimate target. That is not how law works, and it is not how morality works. A place does not lose its civilian character simply because it is located inside a site with a military history. If there was a functioning rehab centre there, with vulnerable people receiving treatment, that is very important.
And the fact that we hate Taliban, for the terrorist they are, it should not become an excuse to normalize the killing of Afghanistan civilians. Too many people now speak as if any bomb dropped on Afghanistan can be justified as long as the Taliban exist somewhere in the background, which is owfully scary logic.
And yes, one should be careful with Taliban casualty numbers, but denying the massacre taht has taken place is inhumane.
