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AFP
5 days ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video of armed Afghan rebels predates latest India-Pakistan conflict
"Revenge for Pahalgam is not over yet… We will not stop until we hunt down and kill every single ISI terrorist responsible in Pakistan or elsewhere: Liberation Front of Afghanistan officially warns," reads the Hindi-language caption of a Facebook video shared on July 4, 2025. "ISI" refers to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The video, which has a logo for the Liberation Front of Afghanistan in the bottom-left corner and appears to show four masked individuals holding guns speaking to camera, has its audio dubbed over into English at its 20-second mark. They appear to speak about "vengeance" for Pahalgam -- the site in Indian-administered Kashmir where gunmen killed 26 mostly Hindu tourists on April 22 (archived link). New Delhi said the gunmen were backed by Pakistan, claims Islamabad rejected -- triggering a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures which escalated into a four-day conflict that killed more than 70 people on both sides before a May 10 ceasefire (archived link). "This isn't about . This is about dismantling ISI's terror syndicate -- cell by cell, soul by soul," the gunmen purportedly add. Image Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 7, 2025, with a red X added by AFP The video also circulated in similar Facebook, Instagram and X posts. "All countries should unite and take strict action against terrorism," read a comment on one post. Another said: "Pakistan under attack from all sides." But the video predates the Pahalgam attack and ensuing conflict between India and Pakistan by three years. A reverse image search on Google using keyframes from the falsely shared video led to the same footage published on February 4, 2022 on the "Liberation Front AFG" Facebook page (archived link). The page has been inactive since April 2022. has neither English-language audio nor subtitles. Image Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the Liberation Front AFG Facebook clip (right) Screenshots from the video were also shared in reports about the group published by Afghanistan International and Al-Ain News in February 2022 (archived here and here). According to the reports, the group said the Taliban's actions in arresting journalists, suppressing women and marginalising them were among the reasons for their uprising. There is no mention of India or Pahalgam in the reports. The conflict between India and Pakistan triggered a wave of misinformation, which AFP debunked here.
India Today
04-07-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Fact Check: Did an anti-Taliban group vow to seek revenge for the Pahalgam terrorist attack?
A video going viral on social media claims to show an anti-Taliban group called the Liberation Front of Afghanistan vowing to avenge India for the Pahalgam terror attack. The video shows four armed men in military gear and balaclavas delivering a statement, threatening vengeance against Pakistan-backed terror video begins with audio in a foreign language, followed by English. A portion of the English audio says: 'We are the Liberation Front of Afghanistan. And today, we speak not in whispers but in war cries. Pahalgam bleeds in our memory. We remember the laughter of children silenced by foreign hands. ISI's puppets dared to spill innocent blood. They lit a fire they cannot control. You ask why we now walk with a foreign intelligence agency. Because vengeance has no borders.'advertisement In the latter part of the video, the front members allegedly vowed to take revenge for the Pahalgam terror attack.A Facebook user shared this video with the caption: 'The Liberation Front of Afghanistan has officially warned: 'Pahalgam has not yet been avenged. We will not stop until every ISI-sponsored resistance fighter in Pakistan or elsewhere is hunted and eliminated.'' Its archive can be viewed news outlet NewsX also presented this video as recent Today Fact Check found that this video is old and edited. The original dates back to 2022, when an anti-Taliban military front issued a statement highlighting the wrongdoings of the Taliban regime. It has nothing to do with India, and predates the Pahalgam attack by PROBEA quick reverse search of the video's keyframes led us to multiple Persian-language social media posts from 2022. This version of the video did not have English audio or subtitles, unlike the viral Persian-language posts said, 'Another military front against the Taliban, named the 'Afghanistan Liberation Front', announced its existence. In a video recording, this front stated that the women of this land do not enjoy any Islamic or human rights. They speak of standing firm against the Taliban.'Many news outlets had reported on this video at the time as well. According to the Arabic outlet Al Ain News, the Taliban's actions, like arresting journalists and oppressing women, led to the formation of the Afghanistan Liberation Front. The report also stated this group had no connection to the National Resistance Front led by Ahmad generated English subtitles of the original Persian-language video using the translation bot Translate Mom on X. It can be seen below. According to these subtitles, the speech mentioned the Taliban and its atrocities. It did not refer to India at all. We shared the subtitles we generated with Mujahid Andarabi, the editor of Radio Afghanistan International. He confirmed that the translation was mostly also said that to his knowledge, neither the Afghanistan Liberation Front nor any other anti-Taliban group had recently issued any statement referring to the Pahalgam terror it's clear that an old video issued by an anti-Taliban front is being shared with fake English audio that links it to the Pahalgam terror attack.- Ends Want to send us something for verification? Please share it on our at 73 7000 7000 You can also send us an email at factcheck@
