The two languages most widely spoken in Afghanistan are Pashto and Dari . Not Arabic.
Photo digitally altered to show Taliban flag on Afghan presidential palace (apnews.com)
CLAIM: A photo shows the Taliban flag flying on the tower of the Afghanistan presidential palace in Kabul on Sunday night.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Social media users are sharing a manipulated photo that makes it appear that the Taliban flag is flying above the palace.
THE FACTS: A photo circulating online that supposedly shows a Taliban flag flying over the Afghanistan presidential palace isn’t real -- it was digitally altered.
On
Sunday, Taliban forces seized the presidential palace. The Associated Press took photos and video Tuesday showing that the
Afghan flag was still flying from the palace.
The photo that was manipulated was first shared in 2020 and originally showed the palace adorned with Afghan flags. In the manipulated version, the Taliban flag replaces the Afghan flag. It looks clearly altered -- the flag appears too rectilinear and the script too flat to be on a moving flag.
The edited photo was shared across social media and by some media outlets, with captions saying it showed the fall of Afghanistan.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was supposed to fully withdraw its troops from the country. President Ashraf Ghani is said to have fled the country. AP photos showed the Taliban inside the presidential palace on Sunday.
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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.
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