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War & conflict fact checks
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कटे हुये सिर से फुटबॉल खेल रहे लोग तालिबानी आतंकी है।
Publisher’s rating: Missing Context
Video of NRF forces striking down Pakistan fighter jets in Panjshir valley, Afghanistan
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned a video shared as showing National Resistance Front (NRF) forces striking down Pakistani fighter jets in Afghanistan’s Panjshir valley, amid fighting between the Taliban and NRF forces. The review reports that the same video was also published by some mainstream Indian news channels with a similar claim. Its investigation found that the footage was not from the conflict: it was a simulated clip made with the ARMA 3 video game software. The review therefore concluded that the video did not show the claimed event. To trace the footage, the investigators performed reverse image searches using screenshots from the circulated video. They found similar visuals in a video uploaded to YouTube by Saionji Rei on 22 August 2020, titled “A-10 Thunderbolt Warthog Thunderbolt CRAM Sius.” The review says that video’s description identified it as an ARMA 3 simulation. This earlier, game-related provenance supports the finding that the footage was not a recording of NRF forces downing Pakistani jets in Panjshir.
ពលរដ្ឋអាហ្វហ្កានីស្ថានកំពុងប្រឈមការភ័យខ្លាច។ សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិកដកទ័ពមិនបានប៉ុន្មានថ្ងៃផង ស្រាប់តែមានយន្តហោះឧទ្ធម្ភាគចក្រមួយគ្រឿង ដែលជាយន្តហោះរបស់សហរដ្ឋអាមេរិកបន្សល់ទុក ហោះចងព្យួរបុរសម្នាក់បង្អួតសាធារណជន។ Aljazeera និយាយថា ជាការសម្លាប់មនុស្សដែលគាំទ្ររបបអាហ្វហ្កានីស្ថាន និងសហរដ្ឋអាមេរិក រួមនឹងការតាមសម្លាប់មនុស្សដល់គេហដ្ឋានគ្រប់ខេត្តក្រុងដទៃទៀតចំពោះអ្នកមានឈ្មោះក្នុងបញ្ជីឈ្មោះរបស់គេ(Taliban)
Publisher’s rating: False
Video of Pakistani Jet used on resistance forces in Panjshir recently
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerns a video circulated as showing a Pakistani jet being used against resistance forces in Panjshir during the fighting between the Taliban and the resistance. The review identified the aircraft in the footage as an F-15 flying in Mach Loop, a low-level fast-jet training area in Wales, United Kingdom—not as a Pakistani aircraft operating in Afghanistan. It notes that Pakistan’s air force does not have F-15s. To investigate the video, the review says it examined screenshots using reverse-image search and relevant keywords, following a suggestion that the aircraft was an F-15. That search found a YouTube video of an F-15 at Mach Loop with matching terrain. The review compared visible features in the footage, including the road curves and trees on the mountainside, and reported that they matched. It also cites a Twitter user who identified the footage’s location as Mach Loop, Wales. The setting was a period of contested claims about control of Panjshir: the review reports that the Taliban claimed victory on 6 September 2021, while resistance forces disputed that they had been completely defeated. That context does not establish that the video was filmed there. The review’s comparison instead places the footage in Wales, making it unrelated to the alleged use of a Pakistani jet against resistance forces in Panjshir.
Video of a little girl firing a gun is with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan to fight against the Taliban
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerned a video of a little girl firing a gun, presented as evidence that she was with Afghanistan’s National Resistance Front and fighting the Taliban. FACTLY reports that it used reverse image searches on video screenshots with relevant keywords and found the same footage online before the events it was purportedly connected to. The earliest source it identified was a YouTube upload titled “Small Baloch Girl who firing with machine Gun,” dated 26 January 2020; it also found the same footage on Facebook and Twitter in January 2020. That earlier online circulation is the key evidence against the claim’s presentation of the clip as connected to the recent Afghan resistance. FACTLY says it could not verify the video’s exact location, but concluded it was not related to the recent resistance in Afghanistan. It also reports finding no credible news reports of girls firing guns in support of the National Resistance Front against the Taliban. The review therefore distinguishes the footage’s established history from the later claim about who the girl was and why she was firing. The timing helps explain the misleading framing: FACTLY describes the claim as circulating amid the Taliban’s 6 September 2021 announcement that it had taken Panjshir, which resistance forces disputed. The review notes that National Resistance Front leader Ahmad Massoud called for a “national uprising” after the Taliban’s claims. That context is reported chronology, not evidence that the girl or the 2020 video was connected to the NRF.
Photos of Pakistan’s helicopter and fighter jet downed in Panjshir recently
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The claim concerns two photos presented as showing Pakistani aircraft recently downed in Panjshir: a helicopter and a fighter jet. FACTLY’s review traced each image to an earlier, different setting. It reports that the helicopter photo appears in a Wikimedia Commons file dated 9 August 2002 and shows a Pakistan Army helicopter at Skardu Airport in northern Pakistan—not an aircraft downed in Panjshir.
This video is recent and shows Taliban and Northern Alliance Resistance's final battle for Panjshir
Publisher’s rating: False
សូមចូលរួមមរណទុក្ខជាមួយពលរដ្ឋអាមេរិកាំង ដែលបានបាត់បង់ជីវិតយោធា ១៣រូប ដោយគ្រាប់បែកអត្តឃាតកាលពីថ្ងៃទី២៦ សីហា ២០២១ នៅព្រលានយន្តហោះក្រុងកាប៊ុល Afghanistan RIP
Publisher’s rating: Misleading
The post paired a photograph of coffins draped in U.S. flags with a condolence message claiming the image showed 13 U.S. servicemen killed in a suicide bombing at Kabul International Airport. The review identifies the post as one shared by Khmer-speaking Facebook users and says its caption referred to the attack as occurring on August 25, 2021; the claim supplied here gives August 26. The review states that the Kabul attack did kill 13 U.S. military members, but that this photograph was not of them. To check the image, Fact Crescendo Cambodia reports using Google Reverse Image search and finding the same photograph with its original caption in U.S. National Archives and DVIDS material. That caption identified 19 U.S. servicemen killed in the 1996 bombing in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and said their remains were being transported to Dover, Delaware, on June 27, 1996. The review attributes the photograph to the Defense Visual Information Center of the American Forces Information Service, Department of Defense. The key distinction is between the real Kabul casualties and the older photograph attached to the post: the review says the Kabul servicemen’s flag-draped remains were transported to Dover Air Force Base three days after the 2021 attack, while the image in the post depicts the 19 servicemen killed in Dhahran in 1996. Thus, the condolence refers to a real attack and loss of life, but the photograph does not show those Kabul victims.
![Image accompanying "If there’s American citizens left [in Afghanistan], we’re gonna stay to get them all out."](https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/dod-evacuees-kabul-aug30.jpg)
"If there’s American citizens left [in Afghanistan], we’re gonna stay to get them all out."
Publisher’s rating: Some Still Left
TALIBÃ - HOMEM ENFORCADO SOBREVOA AFEGANISTÃO PENDURADO EM HELICÓPTERO
Publisher’s rating: Falso
Video of Taliban trying to fly the Black Hawk Helicopter
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
The claim concerned a social-media video said to show the Taliban in Afghanistan trying to fly a leftover U.S. Black Hawk helicopter. FACTLY’s review says the footage instead shows a helicopter being towed in Libya. To investigate, it reports conducting reverse-image searches on video screenshots and finding a similar video in a tweet dated 5 June 2020. The tweet described GNA-aligned forces towing a captured Mi-35 helicopter near Tarhuna, Tripoli. The review then says it searched using relevant keywords and found reporting that the LNA’s Mi-35 had been captured by Turkish-backed GNA forces on 4 June 2020 and driven through the streets of Tripoli Airport. It also points to similar videos of that incident. These reported matches place the footage in Libya in 2020, rather than Afghanistan during the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. The review distinguishes that footage from a separate report that the Taliban had seized a defunct Mi-35 helicopter at Kunduz Airbase. It says that helicopter may have been among four India had gifted to Afghanistan, but stresses that the footage circulating in the claim is not related to that seizure. Thus, the alleged Taliban connection does not establish that the video shows Taliban personnel or a Black Hawk.
FACT CHECK: තලෛබානුවන් උඩු ගුවනේදී මිනිසෙකු එල්ලා මරා දැමූ අවස්ථාවක් ද?
Publisher’s rating: Misleading
The claim is that the Taliban were flying a person beneath a helicopter to hang and kill him. The review examined a video circulated with that allegation, including posts that placed the incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It reports that the footage first appeared on the Talib Times Twitter account on August 30, 2021, with a caption describing helicopter patrols over Kandahar—not an execution. [S1: “මෙම වීඩියෝව පළමු වරට Talib Times නම් Twitter ගිණුමේ පසුගිය සඳුදා(30) පළ කර තිබුණේ”] To investigate what the footage showed, the review says it examined the Pashto text visible in the video, which it identified as “Tabassum Radio,” and contacted the radio station’s head, Sadiqullah Afghan. He told the Indian Fact Crescendo team that he recorded the video on his phone near the Kandahar provincial government building. According to his account, what initially appeared alarming was a Taliban fighter trying to raise a Taliban flag at the building; he said the footage had been misunderstood as a hanging. [S1: “ඔහු විසින් සිය ජංගම දුරකතනයෙන් එම වීඩියෝව පටිගත කළ බවයි.”] [S1: “පළාත් පාලන ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ තලෛබාන් කොඩිය ඔසවා තැබීමට ප්රයත්න දැරූ අවස්ථාවක් එලෙස වරදවා වටහා ගත් බවයි”] The review also cites video from other angles shared by Afghan residents and journalists. It says journalist Arghand Abdulmanan described a military officer trying unsuccessfully to raise a flag, and quotes Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary saying the person seen was trying to install a Taliban flag from the air, but the attempt did not work. The review concludes that the footage showed a failed attempt to raise a flag—not a Taliban execution. [S1: “හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකු විසින් කණුව මත කොඩිය එසවීමට උත්සාහ කළ නමුත් ඔහුට එම කාර්ය සාර්ථකව කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි විය”] [S1: “Taliban fighter seen here was trying to install Taliban flag from air but it didn’t work in the end.”]
Photos show "American service dogs left behind in the airport" in Afghanistan.
Publisher’s rating: Distorts the Facts
The Department of Defense “ordered ALL military working dogs to be left behind in #Afghanistan.”
Publisher’s rating: False
Video by Pakistani Taliban threatening India after recent Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
The post presents a man holding two guns and threatening India as a Pakistani Taliban video made after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. The investigation identifies the person in the footage instead as Said Kaber, also named Syed Kabir Afridi, and says he was the General Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in Pakistan’s Khyber district. Its findings place the footage in 2019, well before the takeover-related developments invoked by the post. To check the video’s provenance, the investigators say they used reverse image searches on screenshots and found the same video on YouTube. That upload was dated 6 August 2019 and titled “Tribal Pakhtun leader Sayed Kabir Afridi last warning to India.” They also found the video in a Facebook post published on 25 February 2019, which described the speaker as a tribal leader sending a message to Narendra Modi. A second video from a different angle appeared on the same Facebook page. The review notes that AajTak reported on the same video in September 2019, linking it to the Indian government’s dilution of Article 370. But that was still a later use of footage that the review says had circulated since early 2019; the Article 370 change occurred in August 2019. The investigation says it found no recent reports of the Pakistani Taliban threatening India after the Afghanistan takeover. Taken together, the identified speaker and pre-existing copies show that the post’s depiction of this footage as a new Pakistani Taliban threat is misleading.
Video of Taliban hanging a man from a Black Hawk Helicopter
Publisher’s rating: MISLEADING
The review examined a social-media video showing a man dangling beneath a helicopter, circulated with the allegation that the Taliban was hanging him from a U.S. Black Hawk and flying the aircraft over Kandahar. It reports that the man was a Taliban member attempting to put up the Taliban flag near the governor’s building in Kandahar—not someone being hanged. The review’s conclusion concerns the hanging allegation; it does not establish with certainty that the helicopter was a Black Hawk. It says the U.S. Department of Defense had not confirmed that identification. [S1] To investigate, the review describes conducting a reverse image search on video screenshots, which led to a tweet by Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary. Sarwary said he knew the Afghan pilot and reported the pilot confirmed flying the Black Hawk; he characterized the Taliban member’s effort as trying, unsuccessfully, to install a flag from the air. The review also found other videos with similar visuals and points to a clearer, 52-second video in which the dangling man waves his hands. These details support the review’s account that the man was alive and attempting a task, rather than being hanged. [S1] The review further cites footage and reporting attributed to the BBC, which described a failed attempt to fix a flag over a building and said the man was alive, wearing the helicopter’s diver’s winch and waving a Taliban flag. It also notes that a Snopes article said the video appeared to show a Black Hawk previously used by the Afghan Air Force, while reporting that the U.S. Department of Defense had not commented. Taken together, the evidence addresses the specific video and contradicts the claim that it depicts a hanging, while leaving the aircraft’s identification unconfirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense in the material reviewed. [S1]
Claim: misinformation shared that Taliban hangs a soldier corpse on Helicopter I பறக்கும் ஹெலிகாப்டரில் மனித உடலை தொங்க விட்டனரா தாலிபான்கள்?
Publisher’s rating: FALSE
The review investigated a social-media video presented as showing Taliban fighters flying a U.S.-captured helicopter with a human body suspended beneath it. It reports that the post was shared by a Facebook account on August 31, 2021, and that the accompanying text placed the incident in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The fact-check describes searching for the claim and tracing the video through reverse-image searches of a still taken from it. [S1: “ஹெலிகாப்டரில் ஒருவர் தொங்கிக்கொண்டு செல்லும் வீடியோ பகிரப்பட்டுள்ளது. நிலைத் தகவலில், “அமெரிக்க ஹெலிகாப்டரில் மனித உடலை தொங்கவிட்டு பறந்த தலிபான்கள்.! ஆப்கானிஸ்தான் கந்தஹார் மாகாணத்தில் அமெரிக்க ஹெலிகாப்டரில் கீழ் கயிற்றில் தொங்கிய உடலுடன் பறந்த தலிபான்கள்” என்று நீண்ட பதிவு குறிப்பிடப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்த பதிவை Namo Ananthan என்ற ஃபேஸ்புக் ஐடி-யைக் கொண்ட நபர் 2021 ஆகஸ்ட் 31 அன்று பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.”] [S1: “வீடியோ காட்சியை புகைப்படமாக மாற்றி ரிவர்ஸ் இமேஜ் தேடலில் பதிவேற்றித் தேடினோம்.”] The review says that the footage instead showed an attempt to use a helicopter to raise a Taliban flag on a flagpole at a government building in Kandahar. It cites Afghan journalist Bilal Sarwary, who said he had contacted the helicopter’s pilot, whom he knew. According to the account quoted in the review, the pilot confirmed he flew the Black Hawk and said a Taliban fighter was trying to install a flag from the air, but the attempt failed. [S1: “தாலிபான்கள் கந்தகார் அரசு கட்டிடத்தில் உள்ள கொடிக் கம்பத்தில் தாலிபான்கள் கொடியை ஹெலிகாப்டர் உதவியுடன் ஏற்ற முயற்சி செய்தனர். ஆனால், அந்த முயற்சி தோல்வியில் முடிவடைந்தது என்று சில வீடியோக்கள் ஃபேஸ்புக் உள்ளிட்டவற்றில் பகிரப்பட்டு வருவதும் நமக்குக் கிடைத்தது.”] [S1: “Afghan pilot flying this is someone I have known over the years. He was trained in the US and UAE, he confirmed to me that he flew the Blackhawk helicopter. Taliban fighter seen here was trying to install Taliban flag from air but it didn’t work in the end.”] That reported explanation directly addresses the video at issue: the person visible beneath the helicopter was described as a fighter attempting to install a flag, not a corpse being transported. The review therefore concludes that the video was given a false description when shared as evidence that the Taliban hung a body from a flying helicopter. [S1: “இதன் மூலம், உயரமான கொடிக் கம்பத்தில் ஹெலிகாப்டர் உதவியுடன் கொடியை பறக்கவிட முயற்சி செய்த தாலிபான்களின் வீடியோவை எடுத்து, தவறான தகவல் சேர்த்து பகிர்ந்திருப்பது உறுதியாகிறது.”]