Pakistani Airstrike Hits Rehab Center, Devastates Addicts

0:00Welcome to Global News Today, two minutes of world news that matter. A Pakistani air strike hit a drug rehabilitation center near Kabul on Monday night, sparking a major dispute between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban government claims over 400 people died and 265 were wounded at the facility that treated around 2,000 patients. The United Nations reports 143 killed and 119 injured, though numbers remain unverified. Pakistan insists it targeted only military sites and terrorist infrastructure. Witness Nazar Muhammad, a former heroin addict, cured there two years ago, watched the bomb drop from nearby. He rushed back to pull survivors from rubble, but found many bodies unrecognizable. Muhammad had stayed on as a living carrot to avoid relapse after his three-month treatment. Now, with much of the center destroyed, Muhammad fears returning to drugs in a country short on medical help.

1:00He credits the clinic's meals, meds, and support for keeping him clean, amid poverty, unemployment, and family struggles fueling addiction. Experts warned the loss is a huge setback, as Afghanistan has few such facilities. Brookingspello, Band-of-Fell-Bab Brown notes it slashes vital services when demand is high. Meanwhile, the Taliban's 2022 opium ban cut poppy fields from 232,000 hectares to 10,200 by 2025. But that's pushed more people towards synthetic drugs and misused pharmaceuticals per United Nations data. We'd like to thank our sponsor for making this episode possible. From Chase Peace, I put my head in an S-O-L-I-SOL-Pillo.com.