Afghan Man Claims To Be 140 Years Old, Forcing Taliban To Launch Probe

The Taliban has initiated an investigation into a man's claims that he is 140 years old, which would make him the oldest person to have ever walked the face of Earth. The man, identified as Aqel Nazir, residing in the eastern Khost province of the country claims that he was born in the 1880s, though he does not have any documents to support his claim.

According to a report in The Telegraph, Mr Nazir swears he was in his thirties during the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919. He claims to have celebrated the end of the war alongside King Amanullah Khan, the Afghan leader who launched a campaign against the British.

"I was in the palace with King Amanullah Khan. I was over 30 at the time and I remember saying that the British had fled and knelt down," said Mr Nazir.

"Everyone was happy and thanked King Amanullah Khan for chasing the British away. Many leaders accompanied us to the Arg [presidential palace], but now all of them have passed away."

Mr Nazir lives with a large, multi-generational family who also claim that he is the world's oldest person.

"I am 50 years old. He is my grandfather, and I have my grandchildren as well," said Khyal Wazir, one of Mr Nazir's grandsons.

Responding to Mr Nazir's claim, Mustaghfar Gurbaz, a Taliban spokesman for the province said a special civil registration team had been pressed into service to verify his age.

"If confirmed by documents or assessments, we will work to register him as the oldest person in the world," said Mr Gurbaz.

If verified, he would take the title of the oldest person to have ever lived. That record is held by Jeanne Calment, who was born in 1875 and passed away in 1997, 122 years later.

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This is not the first instance when a person has claimed to be the world's oldest person. In January, Deolira Gliceria Pedro da Silva, a great-grandmother from the state of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil claimed to be the world's oldest living person. Ms Pedro da Silva said she was a few months shy of celebrating her 120th birthday, having been born on March 10, 1905, in the rural area of Porciuncula, a small town in Rio.

However, Guinness, in a statement said it couldn't confirm receiving Pedro da Silva's application, because it receives many from people around the world who claim to be the oldest living person.

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