This man sitting on the ground is not Afghanistan’s Home Minister; He is Helmand Province Governor Mawlavi Abdul Ahad - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 28, 2022
A photo is being shared on social media claiming it as a picture of Afghanistan’s Home Minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, sitting on the ground and serving his people in the country. Sharing the photo, this post states that power does not mean just a chair but justice for humanity in Afghanistan. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Afghanistan Home Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani sitting on the ground and serving his people in the country.
Fact: The man sitting on the ground in the photo is Mawlavi Abdul Ahad, the governor of the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. This photo was captured in November 2021, during Abdul Ahad’s visit to the Deshu district. The photo is old and has nothing to do with Afghanistan’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Sirajuddin Haqqani. Hence, the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
On reverse image search of the photo shared in the post, a similar photo was found published by a ‘Nitter’ user on 09 February 2022. Sharing the photo, this user described it as a picture of the Governor of Helmand province in Afghanistan interacting with the civilians during a patrol.
When we searched for reliable sources using these keywords, we found the same photo in a tweet made by the official Twitter handle of the Helmand Department of Borders and Tribal Affairs on 29 November 2021. Sharing a collage of images, this Twitter handle described it as the pictures taken during the Mawlavi Abdul Ahad’s visit to the Deshu district in Afghanistan. Mawlavi Abdul Ahad, also known as the Mawlavi Taliban, is the Governor of the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. An Afghan journalist named Shafiq Rahimi has also tweeted the same images with a similar description on 30 November 2021.
وویل چې ستاسو جهاد، قربانۍ او خدمتونه د هېرېدلو نه دي، موږ به تل ستاسو منندوی او شکر ګذاره یو، تاسو په ډېرو سختو حالاتو کې زموږ سره همکاري کړې ده. او موږ مو یوازي نه یو پرې ایښي. نوموړي د خپل خوا هم د هر راز همکارۍ ډاډ ورکړ. pic.twitter.com/ZYAaaFplPX
Lately, after the deadly earthquake in Paktika and Khost provinces of Afghanistan, Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting Minister of Interior, visited the injured victims in Paktika and directed officials to accelerate the aid process to the vulnerable. A picture of Sirajuddin Haqqani sitting on the ground and interacting with an earthquake victim can be seen here. But the photo shared in the post is old and has nothing to do with Sirajuddin Haqqani.
#Earthquake: Sirajuddin Haqqani, acting Minister of Interior, has visited earthquake victims at a hospital in Paktika. He instructed doctors and hospital officials to use all available facilities to treat the injured. | #Afghanistan #Paktika #ArianaNews pic.twitter.com/U9kPBzxKlR
To sum it up, the person sitting on the ground in the photo is Afghanistan’s Helmand Province Governor Mawlavi Abdul Ahad, not the Home Minister of Afghanistan.