India has dispatched a consignment of 2.5 tons of emergency medicine, medical disposables and other equipment to Kabul to assist in treating those injured in a deadly airstrike on a rehabilitation hospital in the Afghan capital earlier this week.
“India stands in solidarity with the Afghan people and will continue to extend all possible humanitarian support in this difficult hour,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on social media platform X.
On March 16, Afghan Taliban officials said a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul killed at least 400 people. Pakistan denied targeting civilian infrastructure, saying its “precision airstrikes” were aimed at military installations and terrorist support infrastructure in Kabul and in eastern Nangarhar province.
India condemned the strike, calling it “yet another act of aggression by a Pakistani establishment that remains hostile to the idea of a sovereign Afghanistan.” Cross-border clashes and airstrikes between Pakistan and Afghanistan have intensified since Pakistan declared an “open war” with Afghanistan in February. A temporary pause on strikes is being observed by Pakistan and the Taliban government on account of Eid al-Fitr, scheduled to last until midnight on Monday.
In recent years New Delhi has recalibrated its Afghanistan policy, including a thaw in ties with the Taliban regime. India does not formally recognize the Taliban government, but last year restored the status of its technical mission in Kabul to that of an embassy. Historically, India was the largest regional provider of humanitarian and reconstruction aid to Afghanistan in the pre-Taliban years. The latest medical shipment underscores New Delhi’s continued role in providing humanitarian assistance to Kabul despite complex diplomatic and security dynamics in the region.