Footage from the Arma-3 video game was broadcasted by Republic TV and few media houses claiming that Pakistan is fighting against anti-Taliban forces.
Republic TV, Times Now, Zee Hindustan, and a few other news outlets reported on an allegation that the Pakistan Army attacked the Northern Alliance in Panjshir valley in support of the Taliban. However, India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) later determined that the viral videos were fake. The fabricated reports claimed PAF planes and drones hovered over the valley, dropping bombs on the Afghan resistance troops.
Republic TV attributed one such viral video to Hasti TV. By using reverse search engines, the video from Hasti TV was found to have been tweeted by Faran Jeffrey, Deputy Director of a UK-based Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism (ITCT) firm. Jeffrey later flagged that the clipping was taken from a video game. He wrote, "The video is from a video game and is currently being shared by pro-resistance accounts as proof of claims that Pakistani drones are attacking Panjshir."
On researching, it turned out to be a recording from the military-themed video game "Arma-3." With the keyword search, we found the footage on a YouTube channel, "Compared Comparison," posted on January 1, 2021. The viral clip can be seen starting at 1:38 minutes in the video.
Therefore, we classify the claim as true because a clip from a video game was used to mislead people, and media houses have also taken down the broadcast from its social media channels.
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