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  • 2021-08-18 (xsd:date)
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  • Satirical image of Taliban official holding a Chairman Mao book is doctored from a news photo (en)
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  • A photo appearing to show a Taliban official holding up a Mao Zedong book at a press conference has been shared hundreds of times on social media platforms, alongside a claim it shows the Taliban giving credit to the Chinese communist's book for their military victory. The claim is satirical: the photo has been doctored to include the book. The photo was published here on Twitter on August 16, 2021. The post's simplified-Chinese caption reads: The reporter asked the Taliban's person in charge: What made you able to occupy the whole country of Afghanistan so quickly? The photo appears to show Taliban negotiator Shahabuddin Delawar holding up a Chinese-language volume of Selected Works of Mao Zedong during a press conference. A screenshot, taken on August 17, 2021, of the misleading post ( AFP) The book is a collection of the written works of Communist China's founding leader ranging from the years 1926–1957. The press conference, at which the Taliban claimed that 85% of Afghanistan's territory was under their control, took place in Moscow in July, as reported by AFP here . A selection of comments under the misleading tweet suggested that social media users were misled by the photo. One commented: The choice of the people, the choice of history. Others wrote: It's the Afghan people who chose us and [They] even understand Chinese, brilliant. A screenshot, taken on August 17, 2021, of comments under the misleading post The same photo was also shared on Twitter here and here and on Facebook here alongside a similar claim. However, the claim is satirical: the book was digitally inserted into the photo. A reverse image search on Google found the original photo published here by Reuters news agency on July 9, 2021. A screenshot, taken on August 18, 2021, of the original photo on Reuters ( AFP) The photo caption reads: Members of Taliban political office Abdul Latif Mansoor (L), Shahabuddin Delawar (C) and Suhail Shaheen attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia July 9, 2021. Below is a screenshot comparison of the doctored photo (L) and the photo published by Reuters (R): A screenshot comparison of the doctored photo (L) and the photo published by Reuters (R) ( AFP) The press conference was also live-streamed in this YouTube video here by Ruptly, a Russian video news agency. The full video of the press conference does not show the Taliban negotiator holding up a book by Mao. (en)
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