An old photo of a crashed Pakistani fighter jet has resurfaced in social media posts falsely claiming it shows an F-16 shot down during border clashes with Afghan Taliban forces in October 2025. The photo first appeared in news reports about the plane crashing during a training exercise in January 2020, and neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan have claimed the fighter was shot down in their cross-border skirmishes.
A photo of the crashed plane with the Pakistani flag on the wing was published published on X October 12, 2025 with a caption showing an F-16 shot down by the Taliban.
The image emerged after Taliban forces in Afghanistan started attacks on Pakistani troops along their shared border late on October 11, in what was described as “retaliation for air strikes carried out by the Pakistani army on Kabul” two days earlier (archive link).
Islamabad has not directly claimed responsibility for the strikes but has repeatedly asserted its right to defend itself against growing militancy it says is being planned from Afghan soil.
The Pakistani military said its troops killed more than 200 Taliban fighters during the clash, and a Taliban spokesman said 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed.
Both parties agreed on a 48-hour cease-fire it came into force on October 15, after dozens of military personnel and civilians were killed earlier in the day in new cross-border skirmishes (archive link).
Screenshot of a fake X post made on October 13, 2025, with a red X added by AFP.
same image was also common in other places in similar X messages from users in India.
But neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan said the fighter was shot down.
A reverse image search Google discovered that a cropped version of the same photo was used in a report published Pakistani news channel ARY news January 7, 2020 (archive link).
“A Pakistan Air Force (PAF) FT-7 trainer aircraft crashed near Mianwali district of Punjab, killing two pilots in the incident,” the report said, citing confirmation from a PAF spokesman.
It added that the plane crashed “during a routine training mission near Mianwali area.”
Comparison of screenshots of the falsely published image (left) and the photo in the ARY report (right)
The article also included another photo showing the wreckage from a different angle.
Video licensing agency Newsflare also used similar image as part of a clip showing the accident on the same day (archive link).
AFP has previously debunked another false statements about the Pakistani army.
