FACT CHECK: Video shows arrival of US troops in Turkey and Afghanistan, not PH

Claim: A video shows US Army troops arriving in the Philippines. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this:  The YouTube post containing the claim has over 18,540 views as of writing.

The post, dated January 5, shows a video of US troops arriving at an airport. The title of the video reads, “China Shocked! 5,000 Elite US Troops Arrive in Subic Bay, Philippines.”

The video featured several clips, showing troops disembarking from a military plane, waiting at the airstrip, and boarding buses. Several Philippine flags can be seen attached to buildings and buses shown in the video.

The video’s description reads, “A total of 5,000 elite United States troops have reportedly arrived in the Philippines in recent days, marking a significant increase in military cooperation between the two countries. The deployment is part of large-scale joint exercises and efforts to strengthen defense readiness in the Indo-Pacific region.”

The facts: The YouTube video does not show the purported “recent” arrival of US troops in the Philippines, and no reports from credible media outlets and government agencies support the claim.

The footage combines spliced clips from two videos. One was originally posted on the US 173rd Airborne Brigade website on July 21, 2025, showing the arrival of the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey on July 20, 2025, for a joint military exercise.

The other video, originally posted by the YouTube channel MIL3010, was first posted on August 20, 2021. According to the video’s caption, the video shows paratroopers of the US Army 82nd Division being dispatched to the US Central Command Middle East to assist in the evacuation of embassy staff in Kabul, Afghanistan. 

Military exercise: The 2025 US Army post says the troops attended Agile Spirit 25, a regional, joint training exercise of North Atlantic Treaty Organization members and participating partners. 

A July 14, 2025, press release of the US Army Europe and Africa said that aside from US forces, the 2025 iteration of Agile Spirit included forces from Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Turkey, and Ukraine. The press release did not say anything about the Philippines participating in the exercise.

Afghan embassy evacuation: According to a news article published by The Diplomat on August 13, 2021, former US President Joe Biden deployed 3,000 troops to help with the partial evacuation of the US embassy after the Taliban takeover of the majority of cities in Afghanistan. 

The evacuation was executed a few weeks before the US government completed its withdrawal of military forces from the country. According to an NBC News article, then-82nd Airborne Division Commander Major General Chris Donahue, the last US soldier to leave Afghanistan, left the country on August 30, 2021. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

Lorenz Pasion is a Rappler contributor. This fact check was reviewed by a member of Rappler’s research team and a senior editor. 

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