Taliban Accused Of Dangling Dead Body While Flying Seized US Chopper To Instill Fear

The chilling video of a body dangling from a seized U.S. military chopper has begun circulating online on Tuesday following America's unceremonious exodus from Afghanistan, leaving the Taliban in power to terrorize residents under a harsh implementation of the Islamic law.

The footage was posted by a Twitter account under the handle @TalibTimes, with a caption that reads, "At this time, the Islamic Emirate's air force helicopters are flying over Kandahar city and patrolling the city," NDTV reported.

The account, whose bio on Twitter claims that it is "the English language official account of Islamic Emirate Afghanistan," has since been suspended from the platform. Another thread of videos by the comic and satirist "Old Holborn" also tweeted the same chopper and captioned it, "Taliban hanging someone from a helicopter in Kandahar."

Some Twitter users noted that the content has been taken out of context. A CNN reporter also reached out to the administrators of the "Old Holborn" account to fact-check and crackdown on misinformation as the video sparked fears from people across the globe.

Reuters has since clarified that "the person in this video is not being executed. [Additional footage shows that] he's wearing a harness, is alive, and can be seen waving to people on the ground," according to the fact-checking website Snopes.

The flight was reportedly an attempt by Taliban forces to "fix a flag over a public building using their newly-captured US-built equipment," Afghanistan experts told BBC News.

According to Central Command head General Kenneth McKenzie, at least 73 aircraft, armored vehicles, and high-tech rocket defense systems were "demilitarized" by U.S. troops before they concluded the two-week rescue missions.

"Those aircraft will never fly again. They'll never be able to be operated by anyone," he said.

The Pentagon said 70 of its now disabled mine-resistant ambush-protected armored tactical vehicles, which are worth about $1 million apiece, and 27 Humvees were left behind in Kabul.

News 18 noted that about 200 Americans and several hundreds of desperate Afghans remain in Afghanistan as the window for the U.S. pullout closed.

The Taliban reportedly now controls over 2,000 armored vehicles, which include U.S. Humvees and up to 40 aircraft such as UH-60 Black Hawks, scout attack helicopters, and ScanEagle military drones, which were taken by force from its local army.

Since 2003, Afghan forces have sent at least 600,000 infantry weapons, including M16 assault rifles, 162,000 pieces of communication equipment, and 16,000 night-vision goggle devices by America to train local soldiers on resisting Islamic extremist rule.

Following the U.S. departure, Afghan residents woke up to a new era with the Taliban control in full swing, according to The Guardian.

“I started my first day under Taliban complete rule at the entrance of a bank in the Shahr-e-Naw area of Kabul. I went there at around 6 a.m. before the bank opened but many people were already queuing there,” an engineer in Kabul, identified as Nesar Karimi for his safety, said.

The Taliban ordered banks to reopen on Saturday with a $200 withdrawal limit for a week. The announcement saw a wave of people scrambling to get hold of their finances. Karimi said the banks closed the ATMs as early as noon after running out of funds due to high public demand for monetary transitions.

"I came home with nothing. Hundreds of people were there. The Taliban were beating people with pipes. I wanted to stay, but that was a mess, so I came back home. It was my second day attempting to withdraw some money but could not," Karimi added.

Many residents, who used to enjoy their freedom in the clothing they wear, have since burned their jeans and other clothes that the Taliban might disapprove of with fears they can be shot or pummeled to death if they displease the extremists.

“I have been crying since this morning," resident Arifa Ahmadi, not her real name, lamented. "My brother went out and bought me a burqa, I burned my jeans today. I was crying and burning them, I burned my hopes with them."