Photo of US soldiers dining at a homeless shelter in Pakistan is digitally altered
Photo of US soldiers dining at a homeless shelter in Pakistan is digitally altered
(Reuters) – A photo of eight United States servicemen sitting at a dinner table has falsely been alleged to show the group dining at a homeless shelter in Pakistan.
The misattributed caption has been seen by hundreds of people since it was posted to Facebook on Aug 30, coinciding with the final day of US military withdrawal from Pakistan’s neighbour Afghanistan.
It features a photo of US military personnel bowing their heads around a dinner table with “panah gah” (Urdu for “shelter”) written on a wall behind. The added caption from the Facebook user reads: “# US army personnel enjoying Dinner in #Islamabad Panah Gah, A project for homeless under #Ehsaas Kafalat initiative of #NayaPakistan started by #ImranKhan.”
However, a reverse image search reveals the photo is not from Pakistan - nor is it recent.
The image was captured during a 2013 Thanksgiving Day meal at Bagram Airbase, which was formerly the largest US air base in Afghanistan.
According to Pakistani Private TV channel, the Thanksgiving photo is one of many used to create memes that make digs at US soldiers leaving Afghanistan. One person using dark humour was quoted as saying: “Ironic that the Punjab police now have to protect the US soldier."
Islamabad’s already tense relationship with Washington was further strained by the latter’s departure from Afghanistan in August, with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accusing the Americans of only seeing his country as useful in the context of the “mess” left behind.
VERDICT
Miscaptioned. The photo shows soldiers giving thanks before a Thanksgiving Day dinner in Afghanistan in 2013. It has been used by Pakistani social media users to create memes that make digs at US soldiers leaving Afghanistan in August 2021.
