Pic going viral with claim that IAF airlifted 800 people from Kabul is old

New Delhi: Amid the escalating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover, a photo of passengers sitting in a military cargo plane is being shared with the claim that it showed the Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 evacuating 800 people from Kabul.

However, we found that the photo is from 2013, when the United States Air Force had evacuated more than 680 Tacloban residents, following Super Typhoon Haiyan, to Manila taking them on a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

CLAIM

The claim, along with the photo, reads, "IAF C-17 with 800 people airlifted....a record. That's a train load almost. The previous highest was 670. This is from Kabul Airport today. (sic)"

The claim is being massively shared – both on Facebook and Twitter. Another rendition of the claim which is being shared stated that the image shows US Air Force evacuating people.

WHAT WE FOUND

We conducted a reverse image on the image and found the image on the website of Pacific Air Forces, a Major Command of the United States Air Force, published on 17 December 2013.

The caption read, "More than 670 Tacloban residents sit on board a C-17 Globemaster III before being evacuated to Manila following Super Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines Nov. 17, 2013."

The photo courtesy was given as 'US Air Force Photo/Staff Sgt Ramon Brockington'.

However, it is true that both – India and USA – had sent its C-17 aircraft to evacuate people from Kabul.

As per a news report on website Defense One, the US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III evacuated about 640 Afghans from Kabul late on Sunday.

The Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft, too, has been evacuating Indian officials. A plane, which took off from Kabul with more than 120 Indian officials on it, has landed in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

The first IAF C-17 aircraft with 45 personnel returned to India on Monday.

Clearly, a photo from 2013 is being falsely shared as the IAF and the US Air Force evacuating 800 people from Kabul, Afghanistan.