A correspondent for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting has posted a video online in which he claimed to have been the first member of the media to enter Kabul Airport with the Taliban after US forces left.
Behnam Yazdani, a reporter for the IRIB based in Afghanistan, made the unverified claim in a short report dated Tuesday, August 31.
"These are the first images broadcast from Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport,” he said. "Taliban leaders arrived at the airport minutes ago.” He went on to gesture at some shoes abandoned on the tarmac, stating: “There are signs of American panic over the past two weeks.”
The video report sparked consternation on social media. The IRIB had also previously described the situation in Kabul as “calm” as thousands of Afghans descended on the airport trying to flee the country’s new extremist rulers. Afghan journalists have also left in droves, with others now forced into hiding.
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