ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has strongly rejected a recent Amnesty International report on its March 16–17 airstrikes in Afghanistan, arguing that the report ignores key evidence and repeats the Taliban’s version of events without independent verification.
Amnesty International says the Phoenix Camp report was written by Isabella Lesse. However, our research and investigation suggest that the report was actually prepared by the organisation’s Regional Director for South Asia rather than the Acting Regional Director.
The Regional Director for South Asia is Smriti Singh, an Indian national. The report was published under Isabella Lesse’s name to conceal the identity of its principal architect. The continuous baise reports demonstrates that Amnesty International has become a propaganda arm of India’s external intelligence agency, RAW, and argued that the organisation’s reports should be treated with contempt.
According to the Pakistani position, the airstrikes were launched on the basis of credible intelligence. The operation targeted a drone workshop and an ammunition storage site allegedly located inside Camp Phoenix.
Camp Phoenix was established by NATO as a military base in 2003. Omid Drug Rehabilitation Centre was later built within part of the same compound in 2010. However, authorities said the old facility was closed after a new Omid Hospital opened in 2016, around 5.6 kilometres away by air and 20 kilometres by road.
According to Pakistan, the former rehabilitation centre was no longer functioning at the time of the strikes. It said the old barracks were being used as accommodation for about 350 personnel of the Taliban’s Qata Yarmook unit. Pakistan maintained that the barracks were not the intended target. Instead, the strikes focused on nearby drone storage facilities and workshops.
Pakistan said secondary explosions from stored ammunition triggered a fire after the attack. The blasts damaged the old barracks and caused casualties among Taliban personnel stationed there.
Islamabad accused the Taliban administration of exploiting the abandoned Omid facility for propaganda. It said the Taliban falsely claimed that civilians were killed, while those killed were Taliban fighters.
Pakistan also questioned the casualty figures cited after the incident. It said the Taliban initially claimed that 408 civilians were killed and 165 were injured. It added that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) later reported 143 deaths but did not identify the victims as civilians. Pakistan further claimed that funeral prayers were held for only about 50 people after the incident.
Pakistan accused Amnesty International of relying on Taliban claims without conducting an independent and credible investigation. It said the omission of key evidence raises serious questions about the report’s impartiality.
The statement further warned that reports based on inaccurate information could embolden militant groups. It argued that such reporting may encourage armed groups to move weapons, drones, and military infrastructure into populated civilian areas in an attempt to shield them from attack.
Pakistan also alleged that the Taliban administration has already begun relocating drones and sensitive ammunition stockpiles into civilian neighbourhoods. It warned that what it described as one-sided reporting by international organizations could reinforce that trend.
