The US ended its 20-year war in Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, withdrawing its last troops from Kabul. The Afghan government collapsed within days and the Taliban took control of the country almost immediately after the withdrawal was completed.
In the above context, a video is being widely shared on social media in which a tank is seen ploughing a field.
The video is shared with a caption suggesting that Afghans were ploughing fields using the tanks left by the US while they were leaving the country.
A social media user shared the video with a caption that reads, “Afghanistan is ploughing the land with tanks that idiot Biden left as a gift. (sic)”
SouthCheck found that the claim is false. The viral video was shot in the UK and the tank shown is British, not American.
On a Google reverse image search, we found the extended version of the video on a YouTube channel, Mr Hewes, on August 24, 2025.
In the video, between 12:40 and 13:05 minutes, we can see the visuals from the viral video.
The video is shared with a caption that reads, “In this video, we take farming to a whole new level – with tanks. Using a top-of-the-range £500 CLAAS combine harvester (from Facebook Marketplace), we attempt to harvest the field before putting our mighty Chieftain tanks to work. One on corn cart, while the other is specially adapted to pull a Dowswell plough. The results are surprising!”
The About Us section of the video reads, “I’m Mr Hewes from Leicestershire. If you have a love for mechanical history, you are in the right place! I like to find unusual vehicles, fix them up and have a laugh with the gang.”
We found that Mr Hewes also shared the viral video on August 20 on his Instagram page.
We also found that the same Instagram user had shared other images of the tank on his page, too.
Moreover, the video suggests that the tank shown was a British-made Chieftain tank.
We further searched with relevant keywords and found another image of the tank shared by Alamy. According to the caption, it reads, “The Chieftain MBT is a British main battle tank known for its advanced firepower and armour. It was widely used during the Cold War period by the British Army.”
Hence, we can ascertain that the viral video was of a UK tank and is not from Afghanistan.
US weapons in Afghanistan
A US watchdog’s final report says that billions of dollars’ worth of American-supplied weapons, vehicles, aircraft and other equipment left behind when US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 now form the backbone of the Taliban’s security forces. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found that about $7.1 billion in material the US gave to Afghan forces ended up under Taliban control after the Afghan government collapsed.
