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The claim: A video shows the Taliban hanging someone from a helicopter

In a video and screenshots seen by millions of people in just over a day, a helicopter is seen trailing a rope with a blurry figure attached.

The full 12-second clip shows a helicopter in Afghanistan hovering over buildings. Then, the video zooms in to show what appears to be a person hanging from the helicopter by a rope.

"Taliban hanging someone from a helicopter in Kandahar," Old Holborn, a "comedian" and "stoic libertarian legend," tweeted Aug. 30.

The clip, originally tweeted by a counterterrorism expert who said he wasn't sure what it depicted, racked up more than 2.6 million views in just over a one day. From there, the claim that the Taliban used a U.S.-supplied helicopter to hang someone spread across social media.

Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Dan Crenshaw, both Republicans from Texas, shared Old Holborn's clip on Twitter. Several news outlets, including the New York Post and India Today, wrote about the video, taking the hanging description at face value. Conservative commentators like Pamela Geller and Wayne Dupree shared the claim to their hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook.

But that never happened.

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In the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban has recovered American military equipment left behind by retreating Afghan forces, including aircraft.

More: What happened to US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan?

However, the video does not show a public execution – another angle of the incident shows the man is alive. Several media and fact-checking organizations have reported the clip shows a Taliban fighter trying to hoist a flag on a building in the city of Kandahar.

USA TODAY reached out to Old Holborn and other social media users who shared the clip for comment.

Person in video wasn't hanged

The video does not show the Taliban executing someone with a U.S.-supplied helicopter. It shows a Taliban fighter trying to put a flag on a building.

The clip originated from Tabasum Radio, whose name is written across the video. The Afghan radio station posted the video Aug. 30 on Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform.

"A helicopter has been spotted at the Kandahar governor's office with one person hanging, officials have not yet commented," the radio station wrote in Pashto, according to Google Translate.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, at center holding shawl, arrives accompanied by officials to address a media conference at the airport in Kabul on Aug. 31, 2021. The Taliban joyously fired guns into the air and offered words of reconciliation as they celebrated defeating the United States and returning to power after two decades of war that devastated Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, at center holding shawl, arrives accompanied by officials to address a media conference at the airport in Kabul on Aug. 31, 2021. The Taliban joyously fired guns into the air and offered words of reconciliation as they celebrated defeating the United States and returning to power after two decades of war that devastated Afghanistan.

Another angle of the incident shows the man is alive.

In the longer video, the man waves his hands and moves his legs as he is lowered to the top of a building. A closer look at the footage shows the man appears to be strapped into a harness, not hanging from a noose.

Alt News, an independent fact-checking organization in India, reported the man is a Taliban fighter. According to multiple Afghan news outlets with reporters on the ground, he was trying to hoist a flag on the governor's office in Kandahar.

Shortly before it posted the video, Tabasum Radio posted another image of a helicopter at the Kandahar governor's office. Later that day, the radio station posted again, saying the "provincial administration has called on the people to hoist flags on shops and businesses in the city in protest of the withdrawal of US and international forces," according to Google Translate.

Bilal Sarwary, a freelance journalist in Afghanistan, tweeted Aug. 31 that the clip shows a Taliban fighter trying to install a flag on a building.

"Afghan pilot flying this is someone I have known over the years," Sarwary wrote on Twitter. "He was trained in the US and UAE, he confirmed to me that he flew the Blackhawk helicopter. Taliban fighter seen here was trying to install Taliban flag from air but it didn’t work in the end."

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In an email to USA TODAY, Tabasum Radio confirmed the video showed someone trying to hoist a flag.

"One of the Taliban government's bodyguards tried to tie the flag to the 100-meter-high antenna by helicopter but was unable to do so," the station wrote in an emailed statement to USA TODAY.

Sadiqullah Afghan, head of the radio station, gave a similar account to Fact Crescendo, another Indian fact-checking organization. He told the outlet he shot the video Aug. 30 on his phone.

Eric Pahon, a spokesman for the Defense Department, declined USA TODAY's request for comment.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows the Taliban hanging someone from a helicopter. Another angle of the incident shows the man in the video was alive. Multiple news outlets and fact-checking organizations, as well as Afghan media outlets, have reported the man was a Taliban fighter trying to hoist a flag on a building in Kandahar. A local radio station that recorded video of the incident confirmed the footage shows a man trying to hang a flag, not being hanged.

Our fact-check sources:

Contributing: Miriam Fauzia

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Video doesn't show Taliban hanging someone with US helicopter