Since Taliban proclaimed governance over Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, the country is going through severe political and economic turbulence. In addition, there has been public outrage against the Taliban over their politics against women and atrocities on minorities of Afghanistan.
#StopHazaragenocide has also been trending on social media platforms in solidarity with Hazara people of Afghanistan after a deadly blast in a school in Kabul on 30 September 2022. However, some misinformation has also found its way and the people sharing it are using the above hashtag on Twitter and Facebook.
Recently an image is being shared on social media claiming that Taliban destroyed some Hazara houses.
However, Fact Crescendo’s findings show that an unrelated image has been shared out of context.
You can see the Twitter post below:
The Twitter post claims that these houses belong to Hazaras; these were set on fire by the Taliban yesterday in Behsud District in Maidan Wardak Province.
Let us find out the truth of the viral claim and the image!
Fact check
We searched the image using Google reverse image search. During investigation, we found that the same image was posted by a website named VOA in 2016 in an article published in Uzbek language.
According to the published article, the image was taken after the Afghan military operations against the Taliban in many provinces of Afghanistan including Kunduz, Balkh, Baghlan, Faryab and Helmand etc.
Hence, old and unrelated image is being shared on social media with misleading claims.
Conclusion;
From the above investigation, it is clear that an unrelated image has been shared with misleading claims. The image taken after Afghan military operations against Taliban a few years ago is being shared as houses destroyed by Taliban.
Title:Unrelated Image shared as Hazara houses destroyed by Taliban.
Fact Check By: Fact Crescendo TeamResult: Misleading
