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Photos: Patriotic music and flags mark Taliban rule anniversary in Kabul

Al Jazeera · 🇶🇦 public Qatar · · 354 words · By AFP; AP
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What to know about Photos: Patriotic music and flags mark Taliban rule anniversary in Kabul

In Pictures Photos: Patriotic music and flags mark Taliban rule anniversary in Kabul Crowds create a carnival-like atmosphere in Afghanistan’s capital as Taliban celebrates five years since its return to power.

Claims checked 6
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Right coverage
Left17%
Center83%
Right0%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

In Pictures Photos: Patriotic music and flags mark Taliban rule anniversary in Kabul Crowds create a carnival-like atmosphere in Afghanistan’s capital as Taliban celebrates five years since its return to power.

Why it matters

Thousands of Taliban supporters poured into central Kabul, waving white flags and chanting religious slogans, as authorities marked five years since the group swept back into power and brought an end to the Western-backed republic.

Common ground

Convoys of cars and pick-up trucks festooned with Taliban banners rolled through the streets on Saturday towards a main gathering outside a compound housing key ministries.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/8/16/photos-patriotic-music-and-flags-mar…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 6 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4
verified Verified By Reference 2
verified
Claim 1: “the group swept back into power and brought an end to the Western-backed republic.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries for the 'Islamic Republic of Afghanistan' and 'Taliban' confirm that the Islamic Republic existed from 2004 to 2021 and was replaced when the Taliban returned to power.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Taliban is an ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, the collapse of Afghanistan’s communist regi…
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taliban
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web search NEUTRAL — The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a unitary presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan interim and transitional administrations...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Republic_of_Afghanista…
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web search NEUTRAL — Taliban insurgency. Arab mujahideen in Afghanistan. Jihadism in the West.Subsequently, the Taliban launched an insurgency to fight the United States–backed Karzai administration and the NATO –led Inte…
https://web.archive.org/web/20220601204120/https://en.wikipe…
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Claim 2: “UNESCO estimated that 2.4 million girls have been excluded from secondary education.”
CORROBORATED
The claim is reported by The Hindu and corroborated by web search results attributing the estimate of 2.4 million girls excluded from secondary education to UNESCO.
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web search NEUTRAL — UNESCO sponsors projects that improve literacy, provide technical training and education, advance science, protect independent media and press freedom, preserve regional and cultural history, and prom…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO
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web search NEUTRAL — UNESCO lists sites under ten criteria; each entry must meet at least one of the criteria. Criteria i through vi are cultural, and vii through x are natural. [3] In addition to sites inscribed on the W…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_World_Heritage_Site…
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web search NEUTRAL — This page was last changed on 17 November 2025, at 18:37.
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO
+ 1 more evidence source
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Claim 3: “Billions of dollars in state reserves remain frozen abroad”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm that billions of dollars in Afghan reserves were frozen by the US/foreign accounts following the Taliban takeover.
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web search NEUTRAL — Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and relies heavily on American aid that is now in question. The Afghan central bank had $9.4 billion in reserve assets as of April, according …
https://www.nairaland.com/6707201/biden-freezes-billions-dol…
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web search NEUTRAL — Afghanistan's banking system could collapse in months, the UN warned in a document seen byMuch of the country's reserves were frozen after the Taliban takeover.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/afghanistans-financial-system-brin…
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web search NEUTRAL — Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the east and south, Iran to the w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan
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Claim 4: “Taliban celebrates five years since its return to power.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources, including The Hindu and various web search results, confirm that the Taliban celebrated the fifth anniversary of their return to power on August 15, 2026.
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web search NEUTRAL — On the fifth anniversary since regaining power in Afghanistan after US troops withdrew from the country, the Taliban celebrated what they call 'restored stability and an end to decades of conflict'.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/taliban-mark-five-anniversary-rega…
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web search NEUTRAL — 15, 2026, the Taliban celebrated the fifth anniversary of its return to power with official ceremonies and events outside the former US Embassy. Five years earlier, Taliban fighters had entered Kabul …
https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/82567
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The Taliban held events marking the fifth anniversary of its return to power at the Afghan embassies in Islamabad and New Delhi, two days after the anniversary.
https://www.afintl.com/en/202608194750
+ 1 more evidence source
verified
Claim 5: “foreign troops withdrew and the previous government collapsed in August 2021.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia entries explicitly state that the fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan occurred in August 2021.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Foreign aid to Afghanistan has been significant even since the Taliban took charge of the country in August 2021.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_aid_to_Afghanistan
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The foreign relations of Afghanistan are in a transitional phase since 2021, in the aftermath of the fall of Kabul to the Taliban and the collapse of the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Afghanist…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (MoFA) (Dari: وزارت خارجه افغانستان, Pashto: د افغانستان د بهرنیو چارو وزارت) is the cabinet ministry responsible for managing the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_Foreign_Affairs_(A…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 6: “the World Food Programme, said child malnutrition has reached critical levels in a third of Afghanistan’s provinces”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources, including the AP and WFP reports found via web search, explicitly state that child malnutrition has reached critical levels in one-third of Afghanistan's provinces.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The World Food Programme (WFP) is an international organization within the United Nations (UN) that provides food assistance worldwide. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and the lead…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Programme
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Denise Brown is a Canadian Senior UN official. She was Head of the United Nations in Ukraine and in the Central African Republic. She currently (2025) serves as Head of the United Nations in Sudan. Pr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Brown_(UN_official)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025–2026 hunger crisis in Afghanistan is an ongoing severe food insecurity, reported to be one of the worst of 2025 and 2026. Over 10 million Afghans require food assistance, with 3.5 million chi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025–2026_hunger_crisis_in_Afg…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.