The Pakistani government said there was no official confirmation from Pakistani authorities about the loss of aircraft. [Source:X]
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday rejected as “false” reports circulated by Afghan Taliban officials and amplified by Indian media claiming that Afghan forces had shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in Nangarhar and captured its pilot.
Videos were seen circulating on social media platforms including X.
JUST IN 🇵🇰 🚨
Afghan forces today shot down another Pakistani regime fighter jet in Nangarhar province, marking the second plane shot down. pic.twitter.com/RlKLLucZBj— S Haidar Hashmi (@sHaidarHashmi) 28 February 2026
Pakistani security forces have launched “Operation Ghazab Lil Haq”, carrying out coordinated air and ground strikes against Afghan Taliban positions in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia and Nangarhar, as well as several other locations, following what officials described as unprovoked cross-border aggression.
The development comes as the military said Pakistan has “effectively repulsed” Afghan Taliban insurgents at 53 locations along the border, inflicting heavy casualties while exercising restraint to avoid civilian casualties.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has exposed the false Afghan and Indian media propaganda about the alleged capture of a Pakistani pilot.
The ministry stressed that all Pakistan Air Force aircraft have been included, with no casualties reported and that all pilots are safe. In a fact-checking statement, the Pakistani government said there was no official confirmation from Pakistani authorities of the plane loss, and no independent international media, defense monitoring agencies or satellite intelligence sources had corroborated the claim.
No sign of loss of aircraft
The narrative was based solely on statements by Afghan officials and selective media amplification.
“There is no visual evidence of crash debris, wreckage or captured pilot,” the ministry said, adding that no geolocated imagery or satellite evidence supports the claim. It noted that in modern conflict environments, verified aircraft crashes are typically documented quickly – something that did not happen in this case. The ministry further said videos circulating on social media as alleged evidence of the jet crash were old or unrelated clips.
According to the fact-checker, some of the viral footage was from an unrelated panic situation in Afghanistan and had been recycled to fit the false narrative.
Image linked to unrelated event
A misleading image shared by TOLO Newsand said the photo of a downed plane was not from Pakistan.
“The image corresponds to a Russian plane incident in Turkey in 2021,” the statement said, calling the reuse of unrelated foreign crash images a deliberate attempt to construct a false narrative. The ministry said that over the past two days, hundreds of fake or misleading videos linked to what it described as an India-Afghan propaganda ecosystem have been debunked.
Read: Afghan Taliban predicament and way out
It added that the jet downing claim fits the same pattern of coordinated disinformation and that credible defense analysts confirm that Afghan forces do not have the operational capability or air defense systems to bring down modern Pakistani warplanes in the manner claimed.
Judgment and advisory
The government concluded that the claim that a Pakistani fighter jet was shot down in Nangarhar and the pilot captured is false, with no confirmed loss of aircraft or evidence that any pilot is in custody. The public is advised not to rely on unverified battlefield claims circulated through partisan or enemy outlets and to cross-check information with official Pakistani sources and credible international agencies.
They also advised users to avoid sharing recycled or unverified videos that may be part of coordinated disinformation campaigns.
