Viral visuals of Afghanistan military conducting successful missile test amid Pakistan tensions

Rating Justification

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

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a keyword and reverse image search to corroborate the visuals.

Posts from multiple Afghan and Indian accounts on social media platform X on October 16, 2025, shared visuals claiming to show the Afghanistan defence forces successfully testing a missile with a 400-kilometre range amid the recent fighting with Pakistan. However, the visuals do not show any Afghan missile test.

On Oct 12, fierce border clashes between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban resulted in the martyrdom of 23 troops and left over 200 Taliban fighters dead, including a number of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists. Both nations claimed to have destroyed the border posts of the other side.

On Oct 14, fighting flared up again between the neighbours in the Kurram district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The next day, on Oct 15, the third major skirmish also took place, with the Pakistani security forces saying an attack by the Afghan Taliban was repulsed in Spin Boldak, killing about 15-20 Taliban fighters.

Meanwhile, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said in a social media post that the Afghan forces were “forced to retaliate” after attacks by Pakistani forces in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province. Mujahid claimed that more than 12 civilians were killed and over 100 were injured in the attacks carried out by Pakistani forces with the use of “light and heavy weapons”.

A temporary ceasefire was later agreed to that same day.

HOW IT STARTED

On Oct 16, a pro-Afghan account shared an image on X of a missile being fired.

The caption of the post said: “Breaking news: Afghanistan’s defence forces have successfully tested a missile capable of hitting a target up to 400 kilometres away. Our own missile… congratulations, from our hands to yours.”

The post gained 83,000 views.

The same image with a similar claim was shared by another Afghan user with the caption: “Reliable security sources say that Afghanistan’s defence forces have successfully tested a missile capable of striking targets at a range of 400 kilometres.”

The post gained over 93,000 views.

Other Afghan users on X also shared the video and claim, as can be seen here, here, here and here; collectively gaining more than 76,000 views.

The image with the same claim was also shared by the Afghan government’s Urdu account on X, but was later deleted.

Some Indian accounts shared a video of the missile launch as well, gaining over 11,000 views.

Meanwhile, some users, Afghan and Indian, shared a different and longer video with the same claim, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, gaining over 35,500 views collectively.

Russian news outlet RT International also shared the video with a similar claim, but later deleted the post.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the matter.

A keyword search conducted to corroborate whether any such missile tests were conducted in Afghanistan yielded no news or video reports from any mainstream and credible Afghan or international media outlets.

The search also did not yield any news reports in general about the current Afghan regime having any such missile capabilities.

A reverse image search for the first image and video yielded a news report dated February 24, 2023, from South Korean media outlet YTN titled: “North Korea: Yesterday, we launched four strategic cruise missiles into the East Sea … a show of nuclear warfare readiness”.

Sharing the same visuals, YTN reported North Korea’s launch of four Arrow-2 strategic cruise missiles into the East Sea on February 23 to test its nuclear warfare readiness.

The missile test was also covered in a news report by international wire news agency Reuters on February 24, 2023, titled: “North Korea test-fires cruise missiles to demonstrate nuclear counterattack”.

Meanwhile, a reverse image search for the second and longer video yielded a May 10, 2025, YouTube video by Pakistani financial news outlet Business Recorder titled: “‘Operation Bunyan ul Marsoos’: Pakistan’s Fatah-1 missile fired at Indian airbase”.

The video showed a missile launched by the Pakistan Army at an Indian airbase during the fighting between the two countries in May 2025.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that viral visuals show the Afghanistan military conducting a missile test amid the recent hostilities with Pakistan is false.

The videos are from older unrelated events and there is no evidence for Afghanistan conducting any such test.

Evidence and References

Feb 24, 2023, YTN news article:
https://www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0101_202302240659077734

Feb 24, 2023, Reuters news article:
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/s-oil-expects-regional-refining-margins-stay-elevated-2023-2023-02-01/

May 10, 2025, Business Recorder YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eEvo1lUDgE