New Delhi: A photograph showing a group of people, including US soldiers, standing on the litter-strewn runway near a plane as a cloud of dust rises in the background has been repeatedly used in media coverage surrounding the Kabul blasts Thursday.
Those who used the photograph in the context of the blasts included DD News Gujarati, Dainik Bhaskar, Asianet News, and India News. Journalist Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Zee News, included it among “the latest pictures” of the blasts.
The Hindi daily Navbharat Times featured this image on the front page Friday under the headline “Taliban now controls areas near the airport: US”. The caption reads, “A cloud of dust rose at the airport after the blasts”.
અફઘાનિસ્તાનના કાબુલમાં બે બ્લાસ્ટ, 13 અમેરિકી સૈનિક સહિત 60 લોકોથી વધુના મોત
વધુ માહિતી માટે વાંચોઃ https://t.co/5AmMAC0v3D #KabulAiport #Afghanishtan pic.twitter.com/jzdNFXikOu
— DD News Gujarati (@DDNewsGujarati) August 27, 2021
BREAKING : Blast outside #KabulAirport . Here are the latest pictures. pic.twitter.com/g9LtdIHfja
— Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) August 26, 2021
काबुल एयरपोर्ट पर 2 फिदायीन हमले: 12 US कमांडो समेत 80 की मौत, 200 से ज्यादा घायल; #ISIS के खुरासान ग्रुप ने ली जिम्मेदारी, अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति बोले- हमला करने वालों को छोड़ेंगे नहींhttps://t.co/5dku0xWrtv #KabulAiport #Kabul #JoeBiden pic.twitter.com/kFOgH2N5eq
— Dainik Bhaskar (@DainikBhaskar) August 27, 2021
കാബൂൾ വിമാത്താവളത്തിന് പുറത്ത് സ്ഫോടനം#KabulAiport pic.twitter.com/L1dgRIYsGo
— Asianet News (@AsianetNewsML) August 26, 2021
However, the image is over-a-week-old. It was taken by AFP photojournalist Wakil Kohsar on 16 August/Monday last week, and only meant to show US troops guarding the airport amid evacuation efforts underway in the Afghan capital following the country’s takeover by the Taliban. It can also be found on the website of Getty Images, where it is priced at Rs 23,000.
The caption on Getty Images reads, “US soldiers stand guard as in the background Afghan people wait at the Kabul airport in Kabul on August 16, 2021, after a stunningly swift end to Afghanistan’s 20-year war, as thousands of people mobbed the city’s airport trying to flee the group’s feared hardline brand of Islamist rule. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)”.
Two blasts outside the Kabul airport killed at least 60 Afghans and 12 US troops Thursday. The responsibility for the attack has reportedly been claimed by an outfit known as the Islamic State Khorasan, an Islamic State affiliate active in Afghanistan and Pakistan that also sees the Taliban as an enemy.
In collaboration with SM Hoaxslayer
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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