Claim: A picture shows an elderly woman, who was displaced due to the August 2025 Bajaur security operation, moving from her home to a safer location.
Fact: The image is from Afghanistan and appeared online as early as 23 July 2021. It shows a woman who was displaced due to escalating violence in the Kandahar province, according to reputable media outlets.
On 10 August 2025, several social media pages posted a picture allegedly showing an old woman relocating with her belongings after being displaced due to the Pakistani security forces’ operation in Bajaur.
The caption accompanying one of the social media posts is as follows:
“باجوڑ زیرِ نظر تصویر میں ایک ماں، آنکھوں میں نمی اور دل میں کرب لیے، فیلڈر کی ڈگی میں بیٹھ کر اپنا گھر بار چھوڑ رہی ہے۔ یہ منظر بے گھر ہونے والوں کے دکھ اور مشکلات کی عکاسی کرتا ہے۔اللہ تعالیٰ ہر بے گھر کو اپنے گھر کا سکون نصیب فرمائے اور امن قائم کرے۔
[Bajaur: In the picture below, a mother, with tears in her eyes and sorrow in her heart, is sitting in the trunk of a [Toyota] Fielder, while leaving her home and everything behind. This scene reflects the pain and hardships of those who have become displaced. May God Almighty grant every displaced person the comfort of their own home and establish peace [in the region].]”
Other social media posts’ carry similar captions.
Operation Sarbakaf in Bajaur
Pakistani security forces resumed Operation Sarbakaf on 12 August after a short ceasefire. It was initially launched late July 2025, deploying army troops, along with gunship helicopters and artillery, to target militants in Bajaur. At least one soldier was killed when “terrorists attacked their vehicle” but not during military action, it emerged on 13 August.
A three-day curfew until the morning of 14 August was imposed by the local administration during the “targeted” operation. A statement from Bajaur Deputy Commissioner said Section 144 was in effect during the same time.
Different media reports have cited official sources as saying that about “300 militants” were present in Bajaur.
The Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), the state media outlet, quoted officials as saying over “20,000 families had been migrated from Loi Mamond and Wara Mamond due to the security situation”.
According to a Voicepk.net report, the district administration said more than 6,600 people “are temporarily residing in 85 government and private schools and colleges, while 334 families are staying at the Sports Stadium Camp”.
On the other hand, Awami National Party (ANP) lawmaker Muhammad Nisar Baaz has claimed that approximately “55,000 people have been displaced from different areas of Mamund Tehsil” and “400,000 residents remain trapped by the suddenly imposed curfew”, the publication added.
The Associated Press quoted government administrator Shahhid Ali as saying the number of people who were displaced due to the ongoing operation “had rapidly increased to nearly 100,000”.
According to Dawn, Siraj Uddin Khan Foundation Executive Director Khalid Khan said almost “300 more families fled their homes ahead of the curfew” imposition, with some moving to “shelters set up by his organisation”.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has announced financial aid for impacted families, saying each of them would receive PKR 50,000 in assistance, as per reports by Khyber News and AP.
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JIP) leader Sahibzada Haroon Rashid — who is also the head of a jirga, an assembly of community elders, in Bajaur — rejected the imposition of a curfew. A number of families had temporarily relocated to peaceful locations.
Operation Sarbakaf resumed after talks between the jirga in Bajaur and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leaders in early August fell through following a fragile “conditional” ceasefire.
When it was first launched, reports citing security sources had said, “At least four suspected terrorists were killed, 12 wounded, and around 10 others were captured alive.”
In a 29 July update, The Khorasan Diary cited security sources as saying, “At least 7 Pakistani Taliban affiliates have been killed and 11 critically injured.” The operation was launched following an attack on the Thangi checkpost in Bajaur.
Criticism against Operation Sarbakaf
At the time of the operation’s launch in late July, the KP government — led by the incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) — opposed it. Gul Zafar Khan, a former lawmaker associated with the party, also alleged that it was “being used as an excuse, perhaps to seize our mineral resources”.
ANP President Aimal Wali Khan criticised the operation, claiming that innocent people were killed, and called on the violence to stop.
Similarly, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) also stated that it could not extend support, with its spokesperson Aslam Ghauri saying common people were affected and issues “were neither resolved through force in the past nor will they be in the future”.
JIP leader Mushtaq Ahmad, too, condemned Operation Sarbakaf, saying in a statement that it “was started by bypassing the provincial assembly, federal parliament, local jirgas, and elders”.
According to a Voicepk.net report from 30 July, “a 12-year-old boy and a young girl” were among three civilians who were reportedly killed and “12 others were injured”. Residents launched a protest against the military operation, it added.
Escalating violence in Bajaur
Terror attacks in Bajaur “have increased in recent months”, it said in an article in July 2025.
There were a total of “215 fatalities, including 37 security personnel, 124 militants, and 54 civilians” in at least “82 militant attacks and dozens of security operations [that] took place across the country in July”, Anadolu Agency had reported on 6 August 2025, citing data from the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS).
On 10 July, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Maulana Khan Zeb and two others were shot dead. Prior to that, Khar Assistant Commissioner Faisal Ismail was killed on 2 July in a bomb blast.
The “Bajaur Aman Pasoon,” or the Bajaur Peace Rally, on 13 July attracted thousands of people “carrying white flags and white banners inscribed with various slogans in support of peace”. Participants raised concerns about and condemned “lawlessness and targeted killings”.
Fact or Fiction?
When Soch Fact Check reverse-searched this image, we found that it had appeared online as early as 23 July 2021 in connection with Afghanistan. Some of these social media posts can be seen here, here, here, here, here, and here.
It was also posted on 24 July 2021 by Rahmatullah Andar, who was a National Security Council (NSC) spokesperson during the tenure of the US-backed government of Afghanistan, before the Taliban took over.
It also appeared in a 27 July 2021 article titled “The Insane Crimes of The Taliban,” which was published by 8AM Media, an Afghan media outlet also known as Hasht-e-Subh Daily.
Persian outlets also reported on the same visual with headlines such as “The picture that shook Afghanistan.” These were published on the Persian date “۰۳ مرداد ۱۴۰۰,” which corresponds to 25 July 2021 in the Gregorian calendar, and include the following caption:
“این مادر قندهاری اعضای خانوادهاش را در جنگ از دست داده و خود تک و تنها آواره شده است و برای یافتن یک سرپناه سرگردان است.
[This Kandahar mother lost her family members in the war and is displaced alone, wandering around looking for shelter.]”
Lastly, Soch Fact Check also found the visual in reports published on 24 July 2021 by international media outlets such as the BBC Persian and The Independent Persian.
According to the BBC Persian’s article, the photo depicts “a woman who was reportedly forced to leave her shelter in southern Afghanistan after violence escalated in Kandahar province”.
On the other hand, The Independent Persian wrote, “For the past few days, a picture of a Kandahar mother sitting alone in the trunk of a taxi with a bundle of clothes and crying has been garnering a lot of attention on Afghan social media. The picture is being shared by Afghan users, with each user reposting it, cursing the war and its supporters, and emphasising the need to end the war.”
“The Taliban are said to have burned down the house of this Kandahar mother and shot her child. Now displacement has become a part of her life, she walks away in tears,” it added, noting that among those who commented on it were Afghan writer Homeira Qaderi, former Afghan lawmaker Naheed Farid, and former Afghan senator Rahila Dostum.
Soch Fact Check, therefore, concludes that the image in question is unrelated to the ongoing operation in Pakistan’s Bajaur district and is actually from Afghanistan.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the image here, here, here, here, and here on Facebook.
It also appeared here, here, and here on Instagram and here, here, here, and here on X (formerly Twitter).
Conclusion: The image is from Afghanistan and appeared online as early as 23 July 2021. Reputable media outlets reported at the time that it shows a woman who was apparently forced to leave after violence escalated in Kandahar.
Background image in cover photo: Adeel Shabir
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