Fact Check: Video of Ashraf Ghani boarding a plane is not related to Taliban takeover
A video of the former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani boarding a flight is going viral on social media. Users claim the video shows how Ghani fled the country after the Taliban takeover.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 19 Aug 2021 7:58 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A video of the former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani boarding a flight is going viral on social media. Users claim the video shows how Ghani fled the country after the Taliban takeover.
"Ashraf Ghani fleeing Afghanistan as Taliban takes control over the country. Ghani proved how much he loves his country and the people of Afghanistan," reads the message.
The link to the post can be seen here.
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
NewsMeter performed a reverse image search and found a news article from July 15 saying Ghani left Afghanistan to attend an international summit in Uzbekistan
http://heartofasia.af/
Secondly, we took the help of keyword searches, found "Tolo News"- a leading media outlet in Afghanistan
It had tweeted the same video with the caption: "President Ashraf Ghani left Kabul this morning for a two-day visit to Uzbekistan."
The Afghan government had also published a statement about the visit on July 15, 2021. "President Ashraf Ghani at the top of a high-ranking government delegation left Kabul for Uzbekistan to participate in the International Conference "Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity; Challenges and Opportunities," the statement said.
Ghani can be seen wearing the same outfit and waving from the same plane as in the viral video.
Hence, the claim is false. A month-old video is being wrongly circulated as Ghani fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country.
