ISLAMABAD: Claims circulating on Afghan and Indian media platforms that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down over Afghanistan during Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes have been rejected by Pakistani authorities and debunked by independent reporting.
The claim, first attributed to officials of the Afghan Taliban government and amplified by Indian media outlets, alleged that Afghan forces downed a Pakistani jet in Nangarhar province and captured its pilot alive.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry categorically denied the reports.
“That’s a false claim. Totally untrue,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said, dismissing assertions of any aircraft loss or pilot capture.
No Pakistani authority has reported the loss of an aircraft since the launch of Pakistan’s retaliatory operation and no independent international media organization has verified the claim. Officials said the allegation relied entirely on statements from Afghan Taliban sources and unverified social media amplification.
Critically, no physical evidence has emerged to support the narrative. No crash debris, wreckage site, or images of a captured pilot have been produced. Analysts note that in modern conflict environments, verified aircraft losses are typically documented quickly through satellite imagery, geolocated footage, or third-party confirmation. None of which exists in this case.
Several videos circulated online as purported evidence of the jet’s downing were also found to be misleading. Officials said the clips were either old, unrelated footage from Afghanistan or taken from entirely different incidents.
An image shared by TOLO News showing a crashed aircraft was also flagged as false context. The image corresponds to a Russian aircraft incident in Türkiye in 2021 and has no connection to Pakistan or the current conflict, according to officials familiar with the matter.
Independent media outlets monitoring the escalation did not corroborate the Afghan claims. Reports citing journalists on the ground and defense observers found no evidence supporting the assertion of a Pakistani jet being downed. The absence of verification by organizations such as AFP further undercut the credibility of the claim.
Pakistani officials described the episode as part of a broader, coordinated disinformation effort following Pakistan’s retaliatory strikes inside Afghanistan.
“For the past two days, hundreds of fake or misleading videos and claims have circulated,” an official said, adding that the jet narrative fits a recurring pattern of propaganda following battlefield setbacks.
Verdict
The claim that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in Nangarhar and its pilot captured is false. No aircraft loss has been confirmed, no physical or visual evidence exists and the material circulated online has been shown to be recycled or unrelated.
Advisory
Officials urged the public to avoid sharing unverified battlefield claims and to rely on official statements and credible international reporting, warning that disinformation campaigns intensify during periods of conflict.
