Old Baghdad clip falsely linked to Pakistan bombing of Kabul
- Published on February 27, 2026 at 08:21
- 2 min read
- By Chayanit ITTHIPONGMAETEE, AFP Thailand
Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan including the capital Kabul on February 27, 2026 but a widely shared video supposedly depicting the air strikes is unrelated. The misrepresented clip is more than two decades old and shows the US-led bombardment of Baghdad during the start of the Iraq War in 2003.
"BREAKING: Pakistani Air Force bombed Taliban headquarters in Kabul. The cross border fighting between Afghanistan and Pakistan has also intensified," reads the caption of a Facebook video that racked up more than 27,000 views within hours of the crisis.
The four-second clip, showing a large explosion illuminating a city skyline at night, was shared almost immediately after Islamabad's defence minister declared Pakistan and Afghanistan are at "open war" (archived link).
AFP journalists in Kabul and Kandahar reported hearing explosions and fighter jets overhead as Pakistani forces struck targets linked to Taliban authorities.
The latest escalation followed Afghan attacks on Pakistani border positions and months of deteriorating relations, including deadly clashes and failed ceasefire efforts.
Relations between the neighbours have plunged in recent months, with land border crossings largely shut since deadly fighting in October that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
Other online posts written in Indonesian, Greek, Turkish, Spanish and Arabic similarly misrepresented the video.
Baghdad strikes
A reverse image search using keyframes led AFP to longer archived footage published by British broadcaster Independent Television News (ITN) on its Facebook page on March 22, 2023 (archived link).
The caption says it shows air strikes on Baghdad on March 21, 2003, as part of the US-led campaign during the invasion of Iraq, when hundreds of cruise missiles targeted government sites in the Iraqi capital.
The United States unleashed major air strikes on Iraq on March 20, 2003 claiming that Saddam Hussein's regime illegally possessed weapons of mass destruction, though none were ever found (archived link).
Washington began its "shock and awe" campaign the following day, raining bombs on Baghdad, ahead of a US and British-led coalition ground invasion that ended Saddam's regime and led to a nearly nine-year war.
AFP compared the circulating video with the ITN footage and identified matching visual elements, including the shape and position of the explosion and smoke plumes.
Footage of bombing in Baghdad had been widely published by several news media including CNN and Getty Images (archived here and here).
An AFP image captured by photographer Ramzi Haidar also shows the scene of the strikes.
AFP previously debunked similar footage that was falsely shared as an attack on Israel.
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