Afghan Taliban allege Pakistan army chief’s involvement in Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated official news coverage of the video of a Taliban commander following the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.

Multiple Indian accounts were sharing a video on social media platform X on August 1, 2024, alleging that an Afghan Taliban official had accused Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir of involvement in the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. However, the Taliban official said no such thing in the video.

Haniyeh’s death was announced by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who said he and his bodyguard were killed in a strike on their accommodation in the Iranian capital at 2am on July 31, 2024, only hours after attending a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president.

It came just hours after Israel targeted and killed top Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in a retaliatory strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut, sending fears of a wider regional conflict soaring in the fallout from the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. Israel has declined to comment on the Tehran strike.

Haniyeh had been the face of Hamas’ international diplomacy as fighting raged back in Gaza and had taken part in the indirect ceasefire talks. He was seen by many diplomats as a moderate compared to the more hardline members of the group inside Gaza, although some Israeli commentators have said he was considered by some on the Israeli side as an obstacle to a deal.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 1, an Indian account posted a video on social media platform X with the following caption: “Taliban claimed Pakistan army chief Asim Munir and Khamenei are behind the elimination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh. Khamenei did it to save his life from Israel and Asim Munir helped Israel for dollars.”

The post also shared a video of a seemingly Taliban official speaking in Persian. However, the post did not provide any other details about the video such as its date, who was speaking or the complete transcription of what they were saying.

The post gained over 31,000 views.

The same video was reshared by another Indian account, which described itself as “reporting on conflicts and current affairs”, and gained over 107,000 views.

The video was shared by multiple other Indian accounts, as can be seen here, here, here and here, with a combined total of over 45,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality in the wake of the Hamas leader’s assassination as well as the nature of the serious allegation about Pakistan’s military chief coming from a supposed Afghan Taliban official.

A reverse image search conducted to ascertain the identity of the individual speaking in the video yielded an August 1 X post by the news outlet Independent Persian which also shared the same video.

The caption for the post said: “Abdulhamid Khorasani, the commander of the Taliban’s Badri Corps, in response to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, one of the leaders of Hamas, accused the Islamic Republic of cooperating with Israel in this action.

“In a video published on social networks, Khorasani claims that the Islamic Republic was involved in the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, who was killed in his residence in Tehran on Wednesday morning. He also accuses the Islamic Republic of a shadow friendship with America and Israel.”

The post thus identified the figure as Abdulhamid Khorasani and notably, did not mention Gen Munir anywhere.

A keyword search for “Abdulhamid Khorasani”, “Khamenei”, “Hamas” and “Ismail Haniyeh” yielded an August 1 blog at 3:10pm by leading UK-based publication The Telegraph titled: “Taliban official accuses Iran of Haniyeh’s assassination”.

The blog did not include any mention of Pakistan or the army chief.

The lack of any mention of Pakistan or Gen Munir in the Taliban official’s video statement was also corroborated by Dawn.com correspondent Tahir Khan, who reports on issues related to the Afghan Taliban and also confirmed that the video did not mention Pakistan or its military in any way or in relation to accusations about involvement in Haniyeh’s assassination.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim regarding the Afghan Taliban accusing Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir of alleged involvement in Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination is false.

The Indian accounts spreading the claims deliberately withheld the actual translations of what the Taliban official was saying in his video statement in Persian and it was confirmed by both news outlets and a reporter knowledgeable about Persian that Abdulhamid Khorasani’s message did not include Pakistan or Gen Munir in any way.

Evidence and References

August 1, 2024, The Telegraph blog:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/01/israel-hamas-war-latest-news-aug-1/

August 1, 2024, X post of Independent Persian:
https://perma.cc/TA99-WCXY