National day celebration in India misrepresented as Indian flag unfurled in Afghanistan
- Published on April 14, 2026 at 09:53
- 2 min read
- By Devesh MISHRA, AFP India
The Afghan Taliban government has developed closer ties with India while relations with Pakistan deteriorated, but footage circulating online showing a crowd gathering to watch the unfurling of an Indian flag was not filmed in Afghanistan. The person who took the video told AFP it shows students celebrating India's Republic Day in the northern Uttar Pradesh state.
"World War is going on, but Afghanistan hoists Indian Flag and the crowd sings India's National Anthem!!" reads an X post shared on April 4. "Some may call it Peak diplomacy, I would still call it a tribal call of brotherhood."
The attached video shows a crowd cheering as an Indian flag is unfurled, followed by a male voice singing the country's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana.
"When World War is going on, Afghanistan plays Jana Gana Mana. A proud moment for India," text appearing on the video in a mix of English and Hindi reads.
India has long maintained strategic ties with Afghanistan while its relations with archrival Pakistan remain strained (archived link).
Islamabad has warily watched India cosy up to the Taliban government, as New Delhi deepened engagement with Afghanistan, culminating in the Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's arrival in New Delhi in 2025 (archived link).
At the same time, Pakistan's relations with Kabul have sharply deteriorated, with fighting between the two countries escalating into rare, bloody combat in October 2025. Pakistan has accused India of providing military support to Afghanistan, a claim that New Delhi denies.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also said India had "incited" the Afghan Taliban, while Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif called Kabul a "proxy of India".
The clip has circulated elsewhere on X and Facebook, but the footage was filmed in India, not Afghanistan.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes of the video found an identical Instagram clip published on January 26, 2026, with a caption saying it shows Indian national day celebrations at the Darul Uloom Deoband Islamic seminary in northern India (archived here and here).
Hasnain Alam -- the user who uploaded the video -- told AFP on April 10 via direct messaging that he had filmed the video during Republic Day celebrations in the northern Uttar Pradesh state on the day.
"The video is being shared with a false claim. I filmed it on Republic Day at the Darul Uloom campus," he went on to say.
Images on Google Maps Street View of Darul Uloom also show that the footage was filmed at the seminary (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked misinformation about Afghan-Indian relations.
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