The Taliban announced the new caretaker government of Afghanistan on 7 September to run the affairs of the country. Indian media outlets have misidentified the newly appointed acting governor of Afghanistan’s central bank—Da Afghanistan Bank. The media outlets have used the photo of a man carrying a gun while posing to use the laptop.
Haji Mohammad Idris has been appointed as acting governor of the central bank. Facto News verified the photo of the acting governor and found the photo used by the media outlets in their news reports is wrong.
India Today used the wrong photo on Facebook and Twitter. The caption along with the post reads: “The terrifying image this morning! Haji Mohammad Idris, the new governor of the Afghanistan’s central bank — Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB). #HajiMohammadIdris #Afghanistan #Bank #Taliban #centralbank #ITCard”
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
(Photo Source: Twitter/Archive/Screenshot)
The same misreporting of the photo was done by the Aaj Tak, Zee Marathi, Live Hindustan, Navbharat Times, Jansatta, News18.
FactO Check:
We found a Facebook post of 23 August on the official account of the Afghanistan central bank. The post carries a photo of a meeting in which the acting governor haji Mohammad Idris, who according to the post is also known as the Molavi Abdul Qahir can be seen sitting at the centre of the Table. The meeting was organised to introduce the new head of the Bank to its employees.
The English translation of the post reads: Maulvi Abdul Qahir, popularly known as Haji Mohammad Idris, as the Governor of Da Afghanistan Bank and Maulvi Noor Ahmad Agha, as the deputy of the Bank, addressed the gathering.”
(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)
On the website of the central bank, we found tweets of the official handle of the bank. The tweet carries three photos of the bank meeting. It also carries the photo of the acting governor which doesn’t match with the photo reported by the media outlets.
د سوداګریزو بانکونو سره د همغږۍ غونډه
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جلسهای هماهنگی با بانکهای تجارتیhttps://t.co/iTlSBxzJ4j pic.twitter.com/xFku8svYxR— Da Afghanistan Bank- Afghanistan (@AFGCentralbank) September 6, 2021
We also found a news report about the appointment of the governor of the central bank. The news report carries the photo of the governor and calls him “completely illiterate”.
(Photo Source: an.T Live/Screenshot)
Conclusion:
The photo used by the media outlets has been viral on social media since the takeover of Kabul. The photo has been shared with different captions and also used as a meme, however, the claim of the man with the gun and laptop being appointed as the governor of the central bank of Afghanistan is misleading.