Old photo of an Afghan citizen falsely shared as recent visuals of a Taliban fighter enjoying ice cream - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 26, 2021
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of a Taliban fighter eating ice cream with great happiness. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of a Taliban fighter while he is eating ice cream.
Fact: The photo shared in the post was captured by American photographer Steve McCurry. This photo shows an Afghan man buying ice cream for his children. Steve McCurry shot this photo in 2002 at Pol-e-Khomri city in Afghanistan. This photo has nothing to do with the Taliban.  Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found to be published on the ‘Imgur’ website in 2016. The description of the photo states it as the visuals of an Afghan man holding his ice cream cones.  This photo was reportedly shot at Pol-e-Khomri (also spelled as Puli Khomri) city in Afghanistan. A few other websites have published the same photo by crediting it to the American photographer, Steve McCurry.
When we searched for more sources using these keywords, we found a similar photo on Steve McCurry’s official Instagram handle. Steve McCurry described it as the visuals of an Afghan man buying ice cream for his children. Also, he mentioned in the description that the image was shot in 2002 at Pol-e-Khomri city in Afghanistan.
After the Taliban took complete control over Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul, Taliban fighters have reportedly indulged in several relaxation activities like enjoying rides at an amusement park and posing for photos with ice cream. Reporting these details, several news websites have published articles and news videos. They can be seen here and here. But the photo shared in the post is an old one and not related to the current events in Afghanistan.
To sum it up, an old photo is falsely shared as the recent visuals of a Taliban fighter enjoying ice cream.