This is NOT Abdul Ghani Baradar storming into the Presidential Palace of Afghanistan after the seize

Social media has been flooded with misinformation related to the recent Taliban seize over Afghanistan. Several unrelated images and videos are circulating with misleading claims. Amidst this, an image of a group of men entering the Presidential Palace is circulating on social media claiming to show Abdul Ghani Baradar storming into the Presidential Palace of Afghanistan for a transition of power to the Taliban. He is an Afghan militant who was one of the founders of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The caption of the post mentions “Leader Of Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Storms Presidential Palace Of Afghanistan in Kabul for a peaceful transition of power back to the Taliban, 20 years after it was taken from them when US occupation of Afghanistan was in full swing.”

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The image is also circulating widely on Twitter as well.

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You can read more Fact Checks related to the recent take over of Afghanistan by the Taliban on the  below links

Fact Check-

We started our investigation by running the image on Google reverse image search which led us to a news report published by the US News on 19^th March 2021 which published the viral image in their news report. The news report mentions that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other delegation attend the Afghan Peace conference in Russia.

We also found the same image published by the Moscow Times on the 19^th March 2021. The description of the image states that “Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (C) and other members of the Taliban delegation arrive to attend an international conference on Afghanistan over the peaceful solution to the conflict in Moscow on March 18.” The report also mentions that the photograph was taken by Alexander Zemlianichenko for AFP.

Further the image is also available on their website AFP Archives mentioning that the image was captured by Alexander Zemlianichenko on 18th March 2021. The image mentions that Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar who has arrived in Moscow, Russia to attend an international conference on Afghanistan over the peaceful solution to the conflict in Moscow.

The description of the image states “Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (C) and other members of the Taliban delegation arrive to attend an international conference on Afghanistan over the peaceful solution to the conflict in Moscow on March 18, 2021. Alexander Zemlianichenko / POOL / AFP.”

With a further keyword search we found that Afghan Peace conference was held in March 2021. It was a one-day conference is part of a larger effort by regional powers to make peace between the Afghan government and the Taliban. We can see other images of this conference showing Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Conclusion- Fact Crescendo found that the claim made along with the video is False. The viral image on social media does not show Abdul Ghani Baradar storming in to the Presidential Palace of Afghanistan for a transition of power to the Taliban recently. The image originally shows Abdul Ghani Baradar arriving in Moscow, Russia to attend an international conference on Afghanistan in March 2021.