Taliban Militarization of Civilian Infrastructure: Legal Violations, Broken Promises and Propaganda in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Conflict

“The rights of women will be protected within the framework of Islam.” The Taliban “wished for peaceful relations with other countries” and “no group will be allowed to use Afghan territory for attacks against any nation”

This is what Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated back in August 2021, but the reality has been the direct opposite.

Afghanistan has become a safe haven for groups like Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), enabling deadly cross-border attacks that dismantle peace in Pakistan. Pakistan has repeatedly asked the Taliban to stop supporting militant groups, yet these appeals have been ignored. The 2020 Doha Agreement, in which the Taliban pledged not to allow Afghan soil to be used for terrorism against others, has completely failed due to systematic non-compliance. An India-Afghan nexus has further aggravated the threats.

Legal Framework: Loss of Protected Status Due to Militarization

Pakistan’s primary objective has always been to destroy Khawarij, who use Afghan soil as safe havens to launch deadly attacks inside Pakistan. In the 2025-2026 border clashes, Pakistan conducted targeted operations against terrorist infrastructure and hideouts.

On 16 March 2026, Pakistan struck military targets in the Camp Phoenix area a former NATO base in Kabul. Pakistan maintained it precisely targeted Taliban military installations, ammunition storage, drone storage and related terrorist support facilities.

Taliban authorities claimed the strike hit the Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital, a drug rehabilitation facility located in the same former military compound. The site had been militarized with weapons storage and militant activities embedded within or adjacent to the civilian and rehab sections

Geneva Convention IV, Article 18 states: Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict. Protection is conditional on exclusive humanitarian use, proper marking, certification, and complete separation from military activities (Article 19).

Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(ix) criminalizes: Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives. Once a facility is used for military purposes such as storage of drones, military-grade ordnance, or militant training (including suicide bombers) it loses all protected status and becomes a lawful military objective.

Additional Protocol I, Article 51(7) reflecting customary international law explicitly prohibits: The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks. Co-locating military assets with civilians constitutes the war crime of using human shields and violates the obligation to take precautions by separating military objectives from civilian populations.

The Omid facility in the former Camp Phoenix compound failed every legal requirement it reportedly lacked proper markings and certification for full protected status as a hospital, was not used exclusively for medical purposes and instead had weapons, drone storage embedded within the complex. This deliberate blurring of civilian-military lines violates the core principle of distinction and amounts to using human shields.

While the Taliban regime in Afghanistan repeatedly claims civilian casualties from Pakistani strikes, it is the Taliban’s provision of safe havens to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and affiliated Khawarij groups that has directly caused hundreds of civilian deaths inside Pakistan. In 2025 alone described as Pakistan’s deadliest year in over a decade 580 civilians were killed in terrorism-related violence, the highest annual civilian toll since 2015. This surge was driven primarily by TTP attacks, including multiple suicide bombings targeting mosques, courts, weddings, and public spaces. Independent reports from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) and other monitors confirm that TTP and allied militants, operating with sanctuary in Afghanistan were responsible for the majority of these incidents.

Pakistan’s Response and Countering Propaganda

Pakistan adheres strictly to principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution. It targets only hostile infrastructure based on its function at the time of the strike military installations and terrorist hideouts never civilian populations.

Afghan claims that Pakistan attacked a “hospital” resulting in civilian deaths are propaganda designed to externalize blame. The Taliban themselves militarized the site, used civilians as shields and then exploited the consequences for political gain.

Also See: Afghanistan Bound in Deadliest Chains  Taliban Rule, TTP Sanctuary, Economic Collapse and Human Suffering