Viral Photo Does Not Show Ronald Reagan With The Taliban
The Claim
A photograph shows former president Ronald Reagan meeting with leaders of the Taliban, along with a quote from 1985 in which he said, “These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s Founding Fathers.”
News posted on
Emerging story
As news develops about the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, a photo is circulating among American social media users which claims to show former President Ronald Reagan meeting with Taliban leaders. Some users are sharing the photo accompanied by an alleged quote from 1985 in which Reagan said, “These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America’s founding fathers.”
Misbar’s Analysis
MENA: Claims that the photo shows Reagan meeting with the Taliban are false. The photo, taken in 1983, shows the former president meeting with Afghanistan’s mujahideen, a military group that fought against the Soviet Union during the Soviet-Afghan war in the 1980s. The Taliban did not emerge until the early 1990s.
The image has also been miscaptioned. The quote indeed comes from Reagan, although he was not referring to Afghanistan, but to rebels from Nicaragua. At the time, rebel forces were fighting against the governing body in power, the Sandinistas, and Reagan expressed his support for the resistance.
The Afghan mujahideen formed after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the ‘70s. At times the US aided and provided weapons to the group. Many members of the mujahideen eventually joined the Taliban upon its formation in the mid-90s, but their contemporary cause is to fight against the Taliban. Their resistance continues today.
