By The South Asia Times

KABUL/ISLAMABAD - Afghanistan's Taliban Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarazmi is facing a wave of online mockery and international skepticism after claiming that Afghan air forces carried out successful airstrikes on multiple Pakistani air bases, including the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi -- a claim that defies both military reality and basic geography.

The latest statement from the Taliban official, posted on the ministry's official X account, asserted that "the Air Force of the Ministry of National Defense conducted precise and coordinated aerial operations against key military installations in Pakistan," specifically naming the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi, the 12th Division headquarters in Quetta, and the Khwazai Camp in Mohmand district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

There is only one problem: Afghanistan has no air force. Not a single fighter jet.

According to data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Afghanistan possesses no fighter jets and has no real air force to speak of. The Taliban's military is known to possess at most six aging aircraft -- some dating back to the Soviet era -- and 23 helicopters, though it is impossible to verify how many are in flying condition.

By contrast, Pakistan maintains a fleet of 465 combat aircraft and more than 260 helicopters.

Yet Indian media outlets, including The Times of India and News18, amplified the Taliban's claims as breaking news, with headlines declaring "Taliban attacks Pak's Nur Khan base" and "'Precision Strikes': Taliban Hits Pakistan's Nur Khan Airbase".

The latest credibility crisis follows Saturday's now-debunked claim that the Afghan Taliban shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Jalalabad and captured its pilot alive.

On February 28, Taliban officials announced with great fanfare that they had downed a Pakistani jet in Nangarhar province, with the pilot captured after parachuting to safety. The claim was amplified across Afghan and Indian media, with TOLO News, Ariana News, India Today, and NDTV all running the story as breaking news.

Within hours, the narrative collapsed.

Pakistan's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued a detailed fact-check, stating that no aircraft loss had been reported by the Pakistan Armed Forces and that no evidence -- no wreckage, no geolocated imagery, no satellite proof -- had been presented.

The ministry further exposed that an image circulated by TOLO News purporting to show the downed jet was actually footage of a Russian aircraft crash in Turkey in 2021.

"The story relies solely on statements from Afghan officials and selective media amplification," the ministry stated.

What actually happened, according to local residents who spoke to The South Asia Times, was far less dramatic: a young Afghan man was practicing parachute jumping from a mountain near Jalalabad. When he landed, a panicked crowd mistook him for a Pakistani pilot.

Taliban arrived, beat and dragged the man, and filmed the scene as proof of their "capture." Hours later, realizing their mistake, they released him -- but not before the damage was done.

- Losses of credibility

Following Khwarazmi's latest claims about striking Pakistani air bases, social media users were quick to point out the absurdity.

"Taliban lost credibility," one user posted on X. "Now no one can trust their claims. If a defense ministry spokesman claims we shot down a jet and he fails to show any evidence and then hides from the media, how can anyone trust them again?"

The lack of evidence has become a recurring pattern. For days, Taliban officials have claimed to have captured Pakistani border posts and taken dozens of soldiers prisoner -- yet no independent media has been shown a single captured soldier or any verifiable footage of seized territory.

When The South Asia Times contacted Khwarazmi for comment and asked for evidence of the captured pilot or downed jet, he did not respond.

Analysts point to a troubling pattern: major Indian media outlets continue to amplify unverified Taliban claims without contacting Pakistani officials for comment or conducting independent verification.

The Times of India or India Today, which ran the false jet shootdown as breaking news on Saturday, published another story Monday headlined "Taliban attacks Pak's Nur Khan base" -- again without a caveat about Afghanistan's lack of an air force or the implausibility of the claim.

News18 similarly reported the "precision strikes" as fact.

"The world will no longer have trust in Indian and Afghan media if they continue running such unverified and fake news," said Jibran S.Khan, a Bangkok-based regional media analyst. "This is not journalism. This is propaganda amplification."

For international readers trying to understand the complex dynamics of South Asian geopolitics, the repeated circulation of false claims raises fundamental questions about which sources can be trusted.

When a defense ministry spokesman claims his nonexistent air force struck bases in another country and major media outlets publish it without question, the damage extends beyond this single incident.

"Once you lose credibility, it's very hard to get back," the analyst added. "The Taliban have now made so many claims they cannot prove, captured posts, captured soldiers, downed jets, and now air strikes, that serious observers have stopped believing anything they say. The tragedy is that Indian media outlets have chosen to ride this wave of disinformation rather than report the facts," said Khan.

Pakistan's information ministry has advised international readers to "not rely on unverified battlefield claims circulated through partisan or hostile outlets" and to "always cross-check with official Pakistani authorities and credible international agencies".

As one social media user put it: "If you claim to have shot down a jet and captured a pilot, show the pilot. Show the wreckage. If you claim to have bombed an air base, show the satellite imagery. Without evidence, it's just noise. And noise doesn't build trust."