FACT CHECK: Does This Video Show The Taliban Dancing In Celebration Of Taking Over Afghanistan?

Mecca Fowler | Contributor

A video shared on Facebook purportedly shows the Taliban dancing in celebration of its takeover of Afghanistan.


Verdict: False

The video was filmed in March in Pakistan at a wedding, several months before the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Drake’s song could not be heard in earlier iterations of the video.

Fact Check:

The Taliban took control over Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 15 after the U.S. had begun withdrawing its troops, the Associated Press reported. Since then, misinformation about the Taliban’s takeover has spread on social media. A video shared on Aug. 20 shows several men dancing while holding weapons. Canadian rapper Drake’s song “In My Feelings” can be heard playing in the background.

“Taliban militants dancing to #Drake in my feelings as they celebrate their victory after taking over Afghanistan,” text accompanying the video reads. (RELATED: No, This Video Does Not Show The People Of Kabul Welcoming The Taliban Into The City)

The video does not, however, show the Taliban celebrating its takeover of Afghanistan. Check Your Fact found the video published on YouTube on March 25, months before the Taliban took control over Afghanistan. The caption of the video indicates it was filmed in Pakistan. Additionally, the music playing in the video is instrumental, not a song by Drake.

Fact-checking organization Alt News reached out to one of the men in the video who confirmed the video was taken at a March wedding in Bannu, Pakistan.

Indian media outlet TV9 Bharatvarsh aired the video in a news segment along with the false claim that it showed the Taliban, according to a tweet sent by journalist Iftikhar Firdous. Firdous explained in the tweet that the clip showed “a viral video of a marriage in Khyber Paktunkhwa, Pakistan.”

Asian News International editor Smita Prakash also shared the video on Twitter on Aug. 19 with the incorrect claim that it showed the Taliban, though she later deleted the tweet.

Mecca Fowler

Contributor

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