Claim: A video shows a Pakistani female pilot who took part in conducting airstrikes inside Afghanistan during the recent clashes between the two countries.
Fact: This video is not linked to the recent Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict as it appeared at least 15 years ago.
On 16 October, a Facebook user posted a video (archive) that apparently showed a Pakistani woman pilot who carried out airstrikes in Afghanistan. The post was captioned: [Translation: “Alhamdulillah! The missile-carrying Mirage aircraft that attacked Kabul was flown by a female pilot, the pride of the nation! 🇵🇰 Long live Pakistan”]. The text embedded in the video reiterates the same.
In the clip, the pilot says: “It was just the feeling that you are going to kill your enemy now, and you just taking your aircraft, and you are just hitting the target and pulling up.” The footage then shows scenes of bombings purportedly carried out by this pilot.
Soch Fact Check debunked a similar claim linking a Pakistani woman pilot to the India-Pakistan conflict in May 2025 here.
Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict
Afghan and Pakistani military forces exchanged heavy fire along the border on 11 October, marking a significant escalation between the neighbours.
The clashes reportedly erupted when Afghan troops attacked several Pakistani military posts along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in retaliation for the alleged airstrikes by Pakistan inside its territory on 9 October. Afghanistan accused Pakistan of violating its sovereign territory by carrying out airstrikes in Kabul, a charge that the latter has neither denied nor confirmed.
Soon after, social media users speculated that the airstrike was meant to target Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. It has not been independently verified if he was killed in the attack.
Pakistani forces retaliated against these attacks on 11 October.
Both sides made conflicting claims about the inflicted losses and casualties. Afghan authorities claimed that they had killed 58 Pakistani soldiers whereas Pakistan stated that 23 soldiers had been killed. Pakistan claimed that it had killed more than 200 “Taliban and affiliated terrorists.” But Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Taliban-led government, said that nine Afghan soldiers were killed in the overnight clashes with Pakistan.Soch Fact Check has not independently verified the casualties on both sides.
Pakistani authorities have long accused the Afghan Taliban government of harbouring the TTP that carries out attacks on Pakistani territory with impunity, a charge denied by Kabul.
Moreover, both countries also claimed to have destroyed each other’s border posts, Reuters reported.
On 15 October, Pakistan and Afghanistan reportedly continued to clash until agreeing to a temporary 48-hour ceasefire on the same day.
According to an AFP report, Afghan officials accused Pakistan of breaking the ceasefire by carrying out strikes inside Afghanistan on 17 October, which killed ten people and injured 12 others.
Then on 19 October, both neighbours agreed to an immediate ceasefire after peace talks in Doha, Qatar while further negotiations were scheduled to be held on 25 October in Istanbul, Turkey.
Although the border crossing between the two countries remains closed, it was only temporarily reopened for the repatriation of Afghan refugee families.
Geo News reported on 20 October that border crossings were likely to reopen. “The sources privy to the matter said that officials from both countries have agreed to reopen the border if no other dispute arises,” the report said.
Peace talks held in Istanbul between the two countries ended on 28 October without a resolution, Reuters reported.
The subsequent round of peace talks between the two countries failed in November 2025, Reuters reported.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched keyframes from the video and found that it is not linked to the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict in October 2025.
AFP Arabic posted a clip titled “Sky’s the limit for Pakistan women fighter pilots” on 9 March 2010. The video in the claim appears to be taken from the AFP video/is identical to the AFP video from 1:02 to 1:10 and then from 1:30 to 1:45.
The visual below compares the matching keyframes between the clip being fact-checked and the original video by AFP:
On the left is the video shared on Facebook, which matches the original AFP video on the right.
The AFP video was posted around International Women’s Day, highlighting Pakistani women pilots making inroads in the field.
AFP also posted the same video-report on 8 March, a day before its Arabic version.
The reports above identified the woman pilot as Ambreen Gul, who became one of the first female fighter pilots in the Pakistan Air Force.
Furthermore, no credible news outlet reported that a Pakistani female pilot took part in the airstrikes in Afghanistan. In fact, Pakistan has taken a moot approach and has not confirmed or denied its involvement in the Kabul airstrikes.
Therefore, Soch fact Check confirms that the clip is unrelated to the recent clashes between the two neighbours.
Virality
The Facebook post garnered 943,000 views and was liked approximately 20,000 times.
It also appeared on Facebook here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
On Instagram here (archive), here (archive), here, here, here, and here.
The clip was posted on X here (archive), here, here, here, and here.
The clip was posted on YouTube here, here.
Conclusion: The video in the claim is from at least 15 years ago and, therefore, is not linked to the recent clashes between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Background image in cover photo: Asia Times
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