Cargo plane that evacuated people from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2021 is real, not a decoy

In August 2021, hundreds of people desperate to be evacuated from Afghanistan ran alongside a moving U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at the international airport in Kabul as the Taliban took control there. 

A recent Facebook post rehashes an old unfounded conspiracy theory that the plane was fake. 

In the video, the narrator points out how the windows and plane engines appear "blacked out." 

"This is what a C-17 that’s not an inflatable looks like," the person says. "See the windows clearly. See the engines clearly."

An image of the aircraft appears with the label: "Inflatable decoy plane."

But there’s no evidence to support this claim. 

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Facebook posts

stated on February 2, 2020 in a Facebook post

A list of 11 names are “Marines that gave their lives this week for everyone in this country. There is no media for them, not even a mention of their names.”

The footage of people running alongside the plane and clinging to it was shared Aug. 16, 2021, on X by an Afghan journalist. News outlets such as The Washington Post picked it up and published it. 

Air Force officials have said the plane is real, and from the 62nd Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. 

Further evidence that the plane is real: Human remains were discovered in the plane’s wheel well after the plane’s crew struggled to close the landing gear. The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations investigated the incident and determined the crew "acted appropriately" under the circumstances, The Hill reported. The office released the remains to local police. 

We rate claims that this plane was an inflatable decoy False.