Fact Check: No, Taliban did not hang an interpreter from a US helicopter

Yesterday, a video that took social media by storm showed a US helicopter flying over Kandahar with a person hanging below from a rope. The video wasn’t just shared widely on platforms like Twitter, it was also picked up and reported by several media houses.

Some reports also suggested that the human made to hang from the US Black Hawk helicopter was a US interpreter.

However, new information and zoomed in versions of the viral clip have now surfaced which show the man moving and waving to people below. The man is also harnessed to the helicopter instead of being made to hang by a rope.

While there’s no conclusive evidence of the source of the video as yet, fact-checkers posted clips where the helicopter can be seen closely and the man is alive, in contrast to some claims of him being killed.

One of the earliest handles to have shared the video was Talib Times, which has now been suspended by Twitter.

A freelance journalist Bilal Sarwary replied to the video saying that the Taliban were trying to install their flag from the sky but their attempt did not succeed in the end. A fact-checking outlet also shared a clip where the human dangling from the helicopter is near a flag pole, which seems to support the claim.