Afghanistan documentary shared as arms training to Madrasa children in Pakistan

A video of children being given weapon training is viral on social media with several users claiming that ‘Pakistan ISI is giving terror training to the children studying in Madarasa’s.’

A keyword search led us to several posts with different claims about the video in the past.

Some posts carrying the same video were seen appreciating the authorities for closing Madrasas.

‘Honorable Chief Minister Shri Himantabiswa, CM Office Assam. You have done a good job by closing the Madrasa, otherwise, such training is given to the students in Madrasa while getting higher education.’ A post reads.

Fact Check

NewsMeter investigation revealed that the video is old from Afghanistan.

During the research, we conducted a reverse image search on the keyframes of the video and came across several reports carrying the same video.

A report by Frontline dated November 17, 2015, titled ‘Why Afghanistan’s Children Are Used as Spies and Suicide Bombers’, clarified that the video is from Afghanistan.

The report quoted one of the under-training children as saying, “We here in Afghanistan, we see all the fighters. We learn from them,” says the 17-year-old Afghan boy, holding a gun and swaying back-and-forth. He doesn’t make eye contact as he speaks. “God willing, we want to be like them.”

During the search, we came across a documentary titled ‘ISIL and the Taliban’ on YouTube by Aljazeera carrying the longer version of the viral video. The viral clip can be seen at the time frame of 46:00. The documentary was uploaded on November 2, 2015.

“Raising its black flag over the rugged mountainous regions of Afghanistan, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has emerged as a new threat to the war-ravaged country as it battles the Taliban for supremacy”, the description of the documentary reads.

NewsMeter concludes that the viral video clip is from an old documentary from Afghanistan. Hence the claim is false.