All that Zarghona found of her son was a single shoe.
After searching for a long time, she stood in the middle of a Kabul clinic that had been destroyed, overwhelmed with despair as she realised she might never see her son again.
Her son, 27, had been admitted to the Omid rehabilitation clinic for methamphetamine addiction. On the night of March 16, the facility was reduced to rubble in a Pakistani airstrike on the Afghan capital.
In an initial independent report on the victims, the United Nations put the death toll at 269, with 122 more people injured.
Human rights activists say this may have been a war crime.
People like Zarghona, who prefers not to reveal her real name publicly, are repeatedly caught in the crossfire in the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan. If not during attacks, then as a result of them.
Islamabad began speaking of “open war” with Afghanistan in February, accusing the government in the neighbouring country of harbouring terrorists who carry out attacks in Pakistan. Kabul denies this.
The conflicz is mainly being fought along the lengthy and disputed shared border region. The Pakistani air force also repeatedly attacks targets deep in Afghanistan.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says 372 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan in the first three months of the year.
The attack that destroyed the Kabul clinic is the tragic culmination of these casualty figures.
Many families spent days searching for relatives following the devastating air strike. In its report, UNAMA says it has seen photographs of bodies so badly burnt that they were no longer recognisable.
Zarghona, too, kept on looking for her son. She spent 10 days searching hospitals, she says. Then the authorities informed her that her son was neither on the list of the dead nor on the list of the injured. He just no longer existed.
Pakistan: Rehab clinic not the target
Another patient in the clinic at the time recalls the attack. Fahim – also not his real name - was a rehab patient and went to lie down after dinner. He says there were about 300 people in the sleeping quarters with him when the first bombs struck.
The sound of the explosions was overwhelming, he says. He could barely hear anything. “As I fled towards the entrance door, I saw corpses and human body parts all around me,” says Fahim, 28, almost two months later.
He saw fires everywhere. He shoved debris aside with his hands and ran on towards the main gate of the facility. He took a taxi to a hospital.
Pakistan claims that the rehabilitation centre was not the target of the attack and that the the air force was attacking depots for drones and ammunition.
Islamabad repeatedly says in statements that its own air strikes are carried out “with precision”. Enquiries from dpa to Pakistani authorities regarding the air strikes remained unanswered.
HRW: Attack could be a war crime
After analyzing satellite imagery, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has concluded that the rehabilitation centre’s premises were not being used for military purposes.
HRW analyst Fereshta Abbasi says that means there is no basis for considering the facility a legitimate military target. “The attack was therefore unlawful and could constitute a war crime.”
Traces of the burns from that night are still visible on Fahim’s face, shoulder and legs. He shows photos from the hospital when his entire face was bandaged.
He was treated there free of charge, and the Afghan authorities are now supporting him with 15,000 afghanis – a one-off payment of around $260.
Afghan women particularly vulnerable
But the fact that the victims of rehabilitation clinic attack were almost all men leaves their bereaved families with a particular problem.
Zarghona’s son leaves behind his wife and two small children. He had been admitted to the clinic just a few days before the attack and had previously supported the family by working as a street vendor.
But since the Islamist Taliban took power, women in Afghanistan have been subject to strict restrictions on how they may work. Their freedom of movement is also severely restricted without a male escort.
Zarghona says her family is entitled to a one-off payment equivalent to around $770 as a kind of survivor’s pension.
They pay the equivalent of just under $34 a month in rent for the house they share with three other families.
To support her family, she now goes begging on the streets of Kabul.
Fahim's family is still looking after him. Looking ahead, he trusts in God’s help, he says. Things will get better after his treatment in hospital.
For the future, he hopes to be able to work again, Fahim says. He has a driving licence. Perhaps he could drive a taxi.
