The United States Department of State has called the doctoring of photographs of President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson a simple mistake.
“I think I’d have to refer you to the Government of Afghanistan and also the Secretary’s traveling staff. I’m not there, so I don’t have awareness of how all of this unfolded. But I think it was a simple mistake,” State Department spokesperson said in response to a question.
However, she admitted that the United States was also involved partly in the confusion created in the aftermath of the meeting between the two leaders.
She said “On the U.S. part in terms of putting Kabul versus Bagram. I think that was a U.S. mistake. I think the Afghan Government changed those photos probably to make it aesthetically more pleasing, but I’ve not talked to Afghanistan about that, and I’d just refer you to the Secretary’s staff about it.”
The issue of doctored images immediately went viral on social media as well as the local and international media outlets.
A spokesman for the presidential palace, ARG, Shah Hussain Murtazawi in response to the criticism said the people only concentrate on meeting rather than talking about the benefits of the meeting.
The meeting between President Ghani and Secretary Tillerson was apparently organized in Bagram due to the security issues.
The Taliban launched a coordinated attack on Kabul city after the US defense secretary and NATO chief visit Kabul last month.
