Altered Photo Shows BLM and LGBT Flags Over US Embassy In Kabul
The Claim
A photo shows a Black Lives Matter and LGBT rainbow flag flying over the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
News posted on
Emerging story
An image is circulating this week which appears to show a rainbow flag and a Black Lives Matter flag flying over the US embassy as a helicopter departs from the roof. Social media users have shared the image along with criticism of the Biden administration, and even claims about the validity of the 2020 election.
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: The image has been digitally altered to add the rainbow and Black Lives Matter flags. The original photograph was taken by American Press photojournalist Rahmat Gu, and published in a report about the departure of foreign nationals in Afghanistan.
The doctored image is circulating amidst conflicting opinions about which administration is to blame for the demise of the American-backed Afghan government, and the Taliban’s swift return to power.
The US has been at war in Afghanistan since 2001 when a US-led invasion removed the Taliban from power. President Joe Biden announced this week that the US would be withdrawing the last remaining troops by September 11, 2021. “U.S. military presence would not have made a difference if the Afghan military cannot or will not hold its own country,'' he said in a State of the Union address. “And an endless American presence in the middle of another country’s civil conflict was not acceptable to me.”
