A video apparently showing a man being hanged from a helicopter in Afghanistan was not accurate, the BBC reported.
The person in the video was alive and appeared to be wearing a harness, the BBC said Tuesday.
On Monday, the 11-second video circulated on social media. People believed the Taliban had taken possession of the aircraft and used it for a public execution.
The BBC, however, said the blurred video showed a man hoisted by the aircraft to place a Taliban flag on a building. Another clip showed the man waving his hands and being held by a strap around his midsection.
"Several Afghanistan experts, quoting Taliban sources, have told the BBC that the flight yesterday was an attempt to fix a flag over a public building using their newly-captured U.S.-built equipment," the BBC reported.
"US-trained helicopter winch operators wear the loop at the back, which could easily be mistaken for a noose in poor quality video footage. British RAF, Royal Navy, and HM Coastguard divers, on the other hand, wear the loop to their front."
A defense analyst told the BBC that the helicopter’s crew probably defected to the Taliban with the aircraft.
An Afghan journalist who fled the country in late August took to Twitter and backed the BBC report.
"Afghan pilot flying this is someone I have known over the years. He was trained in the US and UAE, he confirmed to me that he flew the Blackhawk helicopter. Taliban fighter seen here was trying to install Taliban flag from air but it didn’t work in the end,” Bilal Sarwary tweeted.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, deleted a Twitter post after learning the video might have been misinterpreted.
"It turns out the post I shared w/ a video of Taliban 'hanging a man' from a helicopter may be inaccurate. So I deleted the tweet,” Cruz tweeted.
"What remains accurate is: - The Taliban are brutal terrorists. - We left them millions in US military equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters."
The original video has been viewed millions of times on Twitter.
Another story going viral — that U.S. troops left behind service dogs in Afghanistan — also apparently was not true. A Pentagon spokesperson told People that all military dogs had been evacuated.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.