The Taliban did NOT allow an Irish pub to stay open.

Recently, a screenshot of a fake tweet by “Greg Kimball” has been doing the rounds on social media.

In the tweet, the CNN “reporter” claims that the Taliban is allowing “Fitzy’s Irish bar” to remain open in recognition of Ireland’s struggle against ‘Anglo Imperials’.

Unfortunately, the tweet in question is a fake.

Firstly, the Twitter account GKimballCNN has never existed. This means that someone created the screenshot using Photoshop or a fake tweet generator.

Secondly, Fitzy’s Irish Bar does not exist.

Although an Irish pub did previously exist in Kabul, it was not called ‘Fitzy’s Irish Bar’. Instead, the bar was called the ‘Irish Pub of Kabul’ or the ‘Irish Club’.

In April of 2003, the owners closed the bar down after they received warnings from American security services that it might become the target of a terrorist attack.

A few months later, the owners started a new venture called ‘The Kelt’s Irish Bar’ at the Mustafa Hotel.

Unfortunately, since 2004, there have been no news or updates about it.

Judging by old web archives, the owners either sold the business or they converted it into a restaurant.

Last but not least, there are no CNN reporters with the name Greg Kimball. In this case, it is likely that the profile picture is a random stock photo of a TV reporter.

Unfortunately, a number of people are falling for it.

Although the creator probably created the fake screenshot as a harmless joke, a number of Internet users have been falling for it and accepting the story as truth.

For example, on Reddit’s /r/ireland subreddit, the screenshot received over 1,000 upvotes. The submission in question spawned a number of jokes and tongue-in-cheek comments about how the Taliban are ‘a sound bunch of lads’.

The idea of a bunch of Irish guys sipping pints in Kabul while heavily-armed Taliban soldiers patrol the streets outside is pretty funny.

Sadly, it has no basis in reality.