British YouTuber's clip misrepresented as US tank left in Afghanistan
- Published on December 10, 2025 at 19:00
- 2 min read
- By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA
A video viewed widely on X claims to show Afghans plowing a field in December 2025 with a US tank left behind when the American military withdrew from the country in 2021. This is false; a British influencer and vehicle enthusiast uploaded the footage to his channels in August, saying it showed him using a British armored vehicle he purchased from the army to harvest a field.
"Afghanistan is plowing the land with tanks that idiot Biden left as a gift," says a December 8, 2025 post on X.
The post, and another iteration spread on Facebook, repeat a claim pushed on TikTok in August.
The posts surfaced as US President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion aid package for American farmers, whose support helped win him a second term in office but who have been battered by the impact of his sweeping tariffs.
The 2021 withdrawal of the last American troops from Afghanistan after more than 20 years of conflict -- executed under former president Joe Biden following an agreement Trump struck during his first term -- precipitated the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and a hectic evacuation of residents and foreigners as Taliban insurgents seized Kabul and swiftly regained national power.
A Pentagon report in 2022 estimated that "US-funded equipment valued at $7.12 billion was in the inventory of the former Afghan government when it collapsed," including military aircraft, vehicles and weapons (archived here).
But the video spreading online is unrelated to Afghanistan -- and does not show a US armored vehicle.
A reverse image search traced the footage to Joe Hewes, an influencer who posted the short clip to Facebook and Instagram on August, 20 2025 and later included it as part of a longer video on YouTube (archived here, here and here).
Hewes says in the extended YouTube video that he hooked a harvester up to the back of a British Chieftain battle tank that he got from an army base. His YouTube bio says he is based in Leicestershire, a county in the East Midlands region of England, and that he likes "to find unusual vehicles, fix them up and have a laugh with the gang" (archived here).
Reached via Instagram direct message December 9, Hewes confirmed to AFP that the plowing took place in Leicestershire -- far from Afghanistan.
"That is me driving the tank," Hewes said. "The tank is my British Cheiftan (sic) MK11 main battle tank I bought from the army."
Hewes, who has also posted other images of the same tank, can be seen inside the armored vehicle in the footage (archived here).
Shortly after AFP's outreach, Hewes posted an Instagram story highlighting the X post that misrepresented his footage. "What smooth brain came up with this," he wrote, with a laughing emoji.
A search of the United Kingdom's vehicle registration lookup for the license plate numbers on a tractor and car also seen in Hewes's YouTube footage confirmed they were registered in the country.
AFP has debunked other misinformation about Afghanistan here.
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