Overview
- Afghan police spokesman Tayeb Hammad said a Pakistani fighter was shot down in Jalalabad’s District 6 and the pilot was captured alive, a claim echoed by military spokesman Wahidullah Mohammadi.
- Pakistan’s information ministry and foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Hussain Andrabi rejected the reports as false, stating all Pakistan Air Force aircraft and pilots are accounted for.
- An AFP journalist in Jalalabad reported two explosions near the airport, and local residents described seeing a man parachute from an aircraft before being detained.
- Major outlets report no independent confirmation, while Pakistan calls the viral crash clips old or unrelated and X’s Grok flags the imagery as mismatched for an F‑16.
- The dispute unfolds after Pakistani strikes in Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, alongside conflicting casualty claims and expert skepticism over Afghanistan’s air‑defence capacity.