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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday rejected claims about a Pakistani jet being shot down in Afghanistan\u2019s Nangarhar and the pilot being captured.<\/p>\n
The ministry\u2019s fact check account on X attributed the claims to Afghan Taliban officials that were \u201camplified by Indian media\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ministry of Defence of the so-called Islamic Emirate claimed that Afghan forces shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot alive. The claim was widely amplified by Indian media and Afghan propaganda outlets,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n The ministry further said Pakistan\u2019s armed forces had not reported any aircraft loss and stated that no \u201cindependent international media outlet or defence monitoring agency\u201d had verified the claim.<\/p>\n \u201cThe story relies solely on statements from Afghan officials and selective media amplification,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n It further stated that there was no visual proof of crash debris, the wreckage site or the captured pilot. \u201cNo geolocated imagery or satellite evidence supports the claim,\u201d it said, adding that \u201cin modern conflict environments, verified crashes are rapidly documented \u2014 none exists in this case\u201d.<\/p>\n It said that viral footage being shared as \u201cjet crash evidence\u201d was from an unrelated panic situation in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n \u201cMultiple videos used in the narrative are old clips being recycled to fit the false claim,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n It also pointed to a \u201cmisleading image\u201d shared by TOLO News<\/em>, saying: \u201che image corresponds to a Russian aircraft incident in Turkey in 2021\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cReusing unrelated foreign crash imagery is a deliberate attempt to construct a false narrative,\u201d the ministry said.<\/p>\n It said that the past two days, \u201chundreds of fake or misleading videos linked to the India\u2013Afghan propaganda ecosystem have been debunked\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current jet claim fits into the same coordinated disinformation cycle. No credible defence analysis suggests Afghan forces possess the operational capability demonstrated in the claim,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said that Afghan claims of downing a Pakistani jet and capturing a pilot were \u201ctotally untrue\u201d.<\/p>\n