From Kabul Rehab Centre To Iran School: When Civilian Spaces Become War Zones

Last Updated:March 17, 2026, 12:50 IST

The Kabul and Iran incidents are different in actors and context but they converge in one critical way: Civilian infrastructure is no longer peripheral to war

Dead bodies, anxious relatives and authorities racing against time to rescue the injured—the scenes outside a drug rehabilitation centre in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, after it was hit in a Pakistani air strike on Monday night, were not for the faint-hearted.

At least 400 people were killed and 250 injured in one of the worst escalations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict that has been raging for months, with Islamabad accusing its neighbour of harbouring Islamist extremists who have mounted deadly cross-border attacks. Taliban has refuted the allegations.

The bombing of the rehabilitation centre in Kabul, however, is not just another flashpoint in Afghanistan’s tensions with Pakistan. It reflects a deeper, more troubling pattern emerging across modern conflicts: civilian spaces being drawn directly into the logic of military targeting.

A striking parallel lies in what happened just weeks ago in Iran.

The Significance Of The Kabul Strikes

Afghan authorities say the medical and rehabilitation facilities that were hit house some of the most vulnerable—patients battling addiction, trauma, and long-term illness.

Even when justified as counter-terror operations, such strikes carry a different weight as they hit non-combatant populations, damage already fragile public health systems and signal that spaces of care are no longer off-limits.

In a country like Afghanistan, which has been ravaged by decades of war, this is not just collateral damage but a systemic erosion of recovery infrastructure.

Additionally, incidents like these risk becoming turning points. They shift the narrative from counter-terror necessity to questions of proportionality, sovereignty, and civilian protection, hardening positions between Kabul and Islamabad.

The Iran Parallel

On February 28 this year, as the US-Israel-Iran war raged, a missile strike destroyed the Minab school in southern Iran, killing over 170 people, most of them schoolgirls.

Subsequent investigations revealed something more disturbing—the school had been placed on a target list—though some argue that it may have been mistaken for a military site, possibly due to flawed or outdated intelligence.

The fallout was immediate. The incident became a turning point in the Iran conflict narrative, fuelling global scrutiny, intensifying domestic anger, and reframing the debate around legitimacy and accountability.

Why The Comparison Matters

The Kabul and Iran incidents are different in actors and context but they converge in one critical way: Civilian infrastructure is no longer peripheral to war.

In both the cases, the victims were the most vulnerable: patients in Kabul and schoolchildren in Iran. The locations too are symbolic, both representing healing amid a raging war. Also, the justification remains contested—militant targets vs intelligence failure.

The Bottom Line

The Kabul strikes are not just about Afghanistan-Pakistan tensions. Placed alongside the Minab school case, they point to a broader shift in warfare: the boundaries that once separated battlefields from civilian life are eroding.

Both incidents are not just tragic episodes, they are potential turning points, where civilian harm reshapes narratives, hardens conflicts, and moves the focus from strategy to legitimacy.

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