On Wednesday 8 March, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service criticised the attack on a military hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan which left 120 people dead or wounded.
"Patients, visitors, and medical workers alike have today been innocent victims of a terrorist attack on the Sardar Muhammad Dawood Khan hospital in Kabul, acts carried out in blind disregard also of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Convention", the spokesperson said in a press release, adding that the EU stood alongside the Afghan authorities and people in the fight against terrorism. The spokesperson also said that the EU remained committed to continuing cooperation with the Afghan people to achieve stability, peace and prosperity.
Several foreign affairs ministers have criticised the attack in stronger terms. The German minister condemned the attack "in the clearest and strongest possible terms". The attack "on defenceless hospital patients (…) as well as on the staff (…) demonstrates the barbary of this terrorist group", the German ministry added, stating that it was "cowardly and callous to target defenceless individuals in a hospital". The attack has been claimed by so-called Islamic State.
Learning about the attack "with horror", the French foreign ministry said that "attacking a hospital was a despicable crime which shows the barbarism against which the Afghan authorities are engaged". "France hails the courage and professionalism of the Afghan security forces who managed to evacuate most of the patients and continue to fight to incapacitate the terrorists", the French ministry added.
The shooting between the Afghan forces and attackers, who were disguised as doctors, lasted over six hours.
The United Nations Security Council has also condemned this "hateful and cowardly" attack. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)