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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

War & conflict fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about war & conflict. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

5,847 published reviews in this topic

Fact CrescendoWar & conflict

Video showing Taliban hanging a man on a Black Hawk helicopter in Kandahar

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The video showed a man suspended beneath a Black Hawk helicopter in Kandahar. It circulated with claims that the Taliban was hanging an innocent person, including an alleged former American associate. The review instead identifies the man as a Taliban fighter attempting to raise a flag. Its account describes the scene as taking place near the Kandahar provincial government building, not as an execution. The review reports that Fact Crescendo contacted Sadiqullah Afghan, head of Tabassum Radio, who said he had filmed the video near the building. Afghan said he later learned the suspended man was a Taliban fighter trying to hoist a flag on a post inside the grounds. This account directly concerns the footage at issue and explains why a man hanging beneath a helicopter could be misrepresented as a person being hanged. The review also describes comparing other recordings of the same incident. It says videos posted by a local journalist and another person showed the helicopter and the man near a flagpost; the journalist’s caption said the fighter tried but failed to hoist the flag. The review further reports that an Afghan journalist later said he had spoken to the helicopter’s pilot, who confirmed the man was trying to install a Taliban flag. Together, these accounts support the review’s conclusion that the video depicts a failed flag-raising attempt, not the hanging claimed in viral posts.

Fact CrescendoWar & conflict

Video showing Taliban hanged a man on a Black Hawk helicopter

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video filmed near the provincial government building in Kandahar in which a man hangs below a Black Hawk helicopter. It spread with the allegation that the Taliban had hanged an innocent person, including in a post by US Senator Ted Cruz. Fact Crescendo’s review says the footage instead showed a Taliban fighter suspended from the helicopter while trying to hoist a flag. The review describes the man as moving in the video and says the circulating account identifying him as an American interpreter being executed was misleading. The investigation reports that a local radio station head, Sadiqullah Afghan, told Fact Crescendo he had filmed the video on his phone near the government building. Afghan said he later learned the man was a Taliban fighter attempting to raise a flag on a post inside the building’s premises. The review also reports that it found other videos of the same incident from different angles: one showed the man above a flag post, and another showed him suspended over it but unable to reach it. These accounts and the additional footage support the review’s conclusion that the scene was an unsuccessful flag-raising attempt, not an execution. The review’s conclusion is limited to the video and the claim that the man shown was being hanged by the Taliban. It identifies the man as a Taliban fighter and describes him as trying to hoist a flag at the Kandahar provincial government building; it does not present the footage as evidence that no executions occurred elsewhere.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of a dead Christian family in the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a video said to show a Christian woman and her two children killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The review says the footage instead depicts an old incident in Morbi, Gujarat, India, and concludes that it has no connection to the Taliban. The review identifies the woman as Tulasi and describes the deaths as a suicide and the killing of her two daughters—not a Taliban attack on a Christian family. To check the video’s provenance, the investigators used reverse image search on screenshots from it. They found a similar image in a News-18 Gujarati article published on 2 May 2020, which reported that a woman had strangled her two daughters and died by suicide in Gujarat. The review then says it searched for further details and found a Times of India report about the incident. That report, as summarized in the review, placed the family in a rented home in Ravipark society on Vavdi Road in Morbi. It said that on 2 May 2020, while her husband Vishnu BC was on the terrace, Tulasi strangled their daughters and died by choking herself. The review says the report attributed her actions to suspicion that her husband was having an affair. This evidence supports the finding that the video was misrepresented: the reported location, event, and circumstances differ from the Afghanistan and Taliban narrative.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Videos of US airstrikes in Kabul

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined three videos circulated as footage of U.S. airstrikes in Kabul after the Kabul airport blast. Its review distinguishes the fact that the United States did carry out strikes from whether these particular videos showed those strikes: it concluded the videos were unrelated to them. For the first video, the review used reverse image searches of screenshots and found matching GIFs on multiple websites. It reports that one matching GIF had been uploaded to Gfycat in 2017, and says the GIF’s visuals had been converted into a video and recirculated as Kabul strike footage. For the second video, reverse image searches led the reviewers to the same video on Aparat, where it had been uploaded in 2019 under the title “Afghan Army missile attack on Taliban headquarters.” FACTLY says it could not establish the video’s exact context, but its earlier online availability showed it was not footage of the recent U.S. strikes. For the third video, FACTLY found matching visuals in a 12-minute YouTube video uploaded in 2017 about the MQ-9 Reaper, and in a similar 23-minute video uploaded in October 2020. The review identifies the circulated material as a mini-documentary about the drone, rather than footage of the Kabul strikes. Taken together, the review’s searches identify earlier or different material behind all three videos; it does not dispute that the U.S. conducted strikes after the airport blast.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of Afghan extremists destroying a Hindu temple in Afghanistan

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim is about a video presented as showing Afghan extremists vandalising a Hindu temple in Afghanistan. FACTLY’s review says the footage does show a mob destroying Hindu religious statues and temple infrastructure, but identifies the setting as Bhong, in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province—not Afghanistan. It concludes that the video has nothing to do with Afghanistan. (S1: “The video shows a Muslim mob destroying statues of Hindu deities and infrastructure inside a temple.”; “This video shows a group of Muslims vandalising a Hindu temple in Bhong, a town in the eastern Punjab province of Pakistan.”; “This video has nothing to do with Afghanistan.”) The review describes checking screenshots from the circulating video with reverse image search. It says that search found similar visuals in a CNN-News 18 YouTube video published on 5 August 2021, which reported them as footage of a temple vandalism incident in Pakistan’s Punjab province. That match supports the review’s identification of the video as Pakistani footage rather than evidence of an attack in Afghanistan. (S1: “On reverse image search of the screenshots in the video, similar visuals were found in a video published by the ‘CNN-News 18’ YouTube channel on 05 August 2021.”; “This news channel reported it as the visuals of a Muslim mob vandalising a Hindu temple in the Punjab province of Pakistan.”) The review places the incident in Bhong on 4 August 2021. It reports that the mob was allegedly angry about a court decision granting bail to an 8-year-old Hindu boy accused in a blasphemy case, and says Punjab police arrested 90 suspects. These details describe the reported Pakistani incident; they do not support the video’s attribution to Afghanistan. (S1: “This incident took place on 04 August 2021.”; “The Muslim mob was allegedly angry at a court judgement for granting bail to an 8-year-old Hindu boy who was accused in a blasphemy case.”; “The Punjab district police authorities have arrested 90 suspects involved in this attack.”)

FACTLYWar & conflict

Photo of a Taliban fighter while he is eating ice cream

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The post presented the photo as a recent image of a Taliban fighter enjoying ice cream. FACTLY’s review says the image instead shows an Afghan man buying ice cream for his children, and that it was taken in 2002 in Pol-e-Khomri, Afghanistan. On that basis, the review concludes that the image has no connection to the Taliban and that presenting it as a recent Taliban image is false. The review describes using reverse image search to investigate the photo. It reports finding a similar image on Imgur, published in 2016, whose description identified an Afghan man holding ice cream cones and gave Pol-e-Khomri as the location. It also says other websites published the same photo with credit to American photographer Steve McCurry. These findings point to an image that existed well before the events with which the social-media post associated it. FACTLY further reports finding a similar photo on McCurry’s official Instagram account. According to the review, McCurry described the scene as an Afghan man buying ice cream for his children and said it was shot in 2002 in Pol-e-Khomri. The review distinguishes this older photograph from separate reporting about Taliban fighters engaging in leisure activities, including enjoying ice cream: those reports do not make the photograph in the post a picture of a Taliban fighter.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaWar & conflict

FACT CHECK: පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය ගැන කතොලික පියතුමෙකු සිදුකළ ප්‍රකාශයක් ද?

Publisher’s rating: False

The review investigates a social-media post attributing to a priest named Ernest the statement that evidence had proved the Easter attacks were a conspiracy to gain political power. The post paired that attribution with a photograph said to show the priest. The investigation focused on whether the pictured man was Ernest and whether he had made the statement. Fact Crescendo reports that a reverse-image search led to a 2009 Sydney Morning Herald article identifying the person in the photograph as Catholic priest Ajith Perera. When contacted, Perera denied making the statement and said his photograph had been misused with a name that was not his. The review also says Colombo Archdiocese communications director Father Jude Chrishantha told it that the Catholic Church had not made such a statement, explaining that no official evidence concerning the Easter attacks had yet been received. The review distinguishes the fabricated attribution from separate remarks by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. It reports that on August 21 the cardinal had spoken about other groups being behind the “grand conspiracy” surrounding the Easter attacks and powerful people trying to suppress disclosures. That separate reporting does not substantiate the statement attributed to “Ernest”; the review’s conclusion rests on the photograph’s identification and Perera’s denial.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of a man belonging to the Taliban accidentally shooting himself while testing a weapon

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

FACTLY examined a social-media video claimed to show a Taliban member accidentally shooting himself while testing a weapon. Its review says the clip instead shows an incident in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2019, before a wedding. The man was injured during celebratory gunfire; the review identifies the incident as unrelated to the Taliban and Afghanistan. To check the video’s provenance, FACTLY reports searching Google with relevant keywords. That search found a 2019 Pakistani news article describing a man from Abbottabad who died after mistakenly shooting himself in the head during celebratory gunfire before a wedding. The article showed footage of the incident from another angle, rather than the same camera view as the viral clip. FACTLY also points to other Pakistan-based news reports from 2019. The review says the video was therefore already circulating years before it was attributed to the Taliban, and that its setting and reported circumstances contradict the social-media identification. It also notes that film director Ram Gopal Varma shared the same video with the same description and suggests his tweet may have helped the clip gain traction. The review does not establish who first made the false attribution.

FACTLYWar & conflict

Video of Afghans rushing into Kabul Airport after Taliban takeover

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video said to show Afghans rushing into Kabul Airport after the Taliban took control of Kabul. FACTLY’s investigation identifies the footage instead as showing people entering AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, before an NFL playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks. The review distinguishes the false identification of the video from the real crisis at the airport: it notes that Afghans were trying to flee, but says the footage in the post was not from Kabul. To trace the footage, the review says it reverse-searched screenshots and found an article about the same scene published by The Spun. It also reports finding the full, higher-resolution video in a Sports Illustrated tweet and says the video was originally posted by journalist Jon Machota. The described scene and source history point to a 2019 stadium event, not the 2021 airport evacuation. The review also describes visual comparisons: it says merchandise and Cowboys branding are visible in the higher-resolution footage, and that the stadium’s glass doors and a signboard resemble features in Google Street View images of AT&T Stadium. Together, the reported provenance and visual comparisons support the review’s conclusion that the video was miscaptioned. The supplied excerpt does not provide the underlying screenshots, tweets, or Street View images, so those checks are reported by FACTLY rather than independently reproduced here.

FactcrescendoWar & conflict

কাবুল দখলের পর অস্ত্র হাতে নাচলেন তালিবানিরা। ৩২ সেকেন্ডের এই ভিডিওতে দেখা যাচ্ছে আবহে ভারতীয় গান ‘আফগান জলেবি’ বাজছে এবং বন্দুক হাতে বেশ কয়েকজন লোক তালে তাল মিলিয়ে নাচছে।

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a 32-second video presented as showing armed Taliban fighters dancing after the capture of Kabul, with the Indian song “Afghan Jalebi” playing. The investigation examined that specific video and concluded that it was footage from a Pakistani wedding, not a celebration by Taliban fighters. It reports that the clip was circulated with captions describing armed Taliban dancing after Kabul fell, although the footage itself was not evidence of that setting. To trace the clip, the fact-checkers divided it into frames using InVID-WeVerify and performed reverse-image searches. They say they found the same video in an Instagram post dated April 6, 2021, and located an upload from April 10 on a YouTube channel named Kaisar Khan. The YouTube description identified it as a dance at a Pathan wedding. Those earlier appearances place the footage months before Kabul was captured on August 15, 2021, contradicting the claim that it recorded celebrations after the capture. The review also reports that a Pakistani journalist identified the footage as being from a wedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It says the man in blue was identified as Wahab Pakhtun, who told the investigators that the event took place on March 19, 2021, at his friend’s wedding in Sarwar Kitki village, Bannu district, and that someone recorded him dancing there. The review says he supplied another photograph from the wedding in which he could be matched to the video. Together, the earlier uploads and the participant’s account support the conclusion that the clip was misrepresented as Taliban footage.