N. Korea missile image falsely linked to Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict

"Afghanistan's defence forces have successfully tested a missile capable of hitting a target up to 400 kilometres away," reads an Urdu-language post on X shared on October 17. 

Fighting between the two neighbours broke out after explosions in Kabul on October 9, with the Taliban government blaming the blasts on Pakistan and launching a retaliatory border offensive (archived link).

Days of fierce clashes killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds on both sides -- their deadliest row since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 (archived link).

Similar claims to the one shared in the X post also proliferated on Facebook and Instagram. 

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Screenshot of the false post taken on October 28, 2025, with a red cross added by AFP

However, there were no official reports Afghanistan testing a missile during the October conflict.

North Korea missile drill

A reverse image search led to an article by The Business Standard from March 19, 2023 -- titled, "N Korea launches missile into sea amid US-S Korea drills" -- which has the same image (archived link). 

It is captioned: "A strategic cruise missile is launched during a drill in this undated photo released on February 24, 2023 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)."

The caption of the same uncropped photo distributed on the AFP platform says the image was taken on the above date and shows the strategic cruise missile during a drill (archived link).

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Screenshot comparison of the false post (L) and the AFP photo handout (R), with the red X added by AFP

North Korean forces held a "strategic cruise missile launching drill" in the early hours of February 23, 2023, firing four Hwasal-2s, according to an AFP report citing KCNA (archived link).

The exercise demonstrated North Korea's "deadly nuclear counterattack capability against the hostile forces", KCNA said at the time. 

Pakistan and Afghanistan have had frosty relations since the Taliban's return, with Islamabad accusing Kabul of harbouring militant groups that stage cross-border terror attacks.

After an initial 48-hour ceasefire between the warring neighbours lapsed, a second truce emerged on October 19 following talks in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Turkey.

But Pakistan said on October 27 that negotiations for a lasting truce with Afghanistan had "failed to bring about a workable solution" (archived link).

AFP has previously debunked misinformation regarding the recent Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict.