Summary Secretary of state Rex W. Tillerson never left the Bagram base, Two pictures created many confusions
WASHINGTON (Dunya News) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani met US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson at Bagram Airfield but Ghani’s office manipulated the photos of the meeting to make it look like the meeting took place in Kabul.
The misinformation, meant to obscure the true meeting place, was betrayed by discrepancies in similar photographs released by the American and the Afghan media.
Both versions of the pictures Show Tillerson and Ghani sitting in front of two television screens. The original one had a large digital clock showing “Zulu time” – the military term for Coordianted Universal Time – and a red firealarm on the wall which were removed from the version released by the Ghani’s office to terminate the military impressions to make it look like the meeting took place in Kabul.
However, the original version released by the American media, exposed the disparity in the Afghan version of photographs.
The afghan office didn’t quickly respond to the queries and kept silent on the matter.
The image manipulation was also verified by Hany Farid, a computer expert at Dartmouth College.
The image might have been manipulated in order to cover the embarrassment that came with the President of the state meeting a US official in his own country but on American terms.
Many Afghans may see the altered photo of Tillerson’s visit as evidence of a government effort to obscure facts to give a positive image, both to its allies as well as its nationals.
