This chapter focuses on a variety of Taliban IO delivery systems some of which have not had scholarly assessments. The Taliban have had a major presence on the internet since their development of their main webpage – Alemarah. This site has become quite sophisticated over the years and is published in Pashto, Dari, Urdu, Arabic and English languages. Hence, the site targets a variety of audiences including the international community in addition to Afghans, Arabs, and Pakistanis. The Taliban also have a significant presence on social media to include sites on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. They also use videos and DVDs to project their messages. They have affiliated “media studios such as Mana-ul Jihad, al Hijrat, and El Emarah which are described in detail in the chapter. They also use regular “spokesman” to interact with both local and international media. Finally they use a variety of radio stations to present their narratives and associated stories. Lastly they use graffiti to communicate with target audiences.
This is the first in a series of chapters that explicitly examines different Taliban narrative and story delivery means. Specifically this chapter discusses Afghan insurgent periodicals and newsletters. Specific periodicals examined include – Al Somood (Resistance), Srak (Beam of Light), Tora Bora Magazine, Shahamat (Courage/Bravery), In Fight, Elham (Inspiration/Revelation), Murchal (Trench), Mesaq-i-Esaar (Covenant of Sacrifice), Ihsas (Feelings), Resalat (Duty), Zamir (Conscience), Hittin, Wahdat, Nawa-I Afghan Jihad (Voice or melody of the Afghan Jihad), Likwal’ Hewad, and Khabroona. Variables such as content, length, languages used, frequency of publication, and origination are discussed for each periodical and newsletter.
Chapter 5 focuses on a traditional Afghan means to communicate at the Afghan village level – Shabnamah or Night Letters. The tropes of this Taliban IO device include: impact of “foreign invaders” on Afghanistan and how they have traditionally been defeated, Kabul’s “puppet regime.” “cosmic conflict nature of Taliban’s battle, “crusaders promoting the destruction of Islam and Afghan life, the power of “martyrdom,” and revenge and honor. Numerous actual Taliban Shabnamah are presented and translated and assessed relative to their explicit stories. Table 5.1 presents the thematic lines of operation for Taliban night letters including: counter-collaboration, counter-education, counter-reconstruction, counter-mobility, and counter-stability. The rest of the chapter analyses a wide variety of night letters and their associated stories.
This chapter assesses the explicit target audiences of Taliban narratives and associated stories. These targets include – Local populations that are neutral/undecided toward the Taliban cause (Figure 3.20), local supports and sympathizers (Figure 3.2), local opposition (Figure 3.3), neighboring populations (Figure 3.4), and international population (Figure 3.5). The chapter introduces means of delivery for each of the audiences suggested and examines their respective messages’ strengths and weaknesses.
This chapter introduces the reader to the Master Narratives of the Taliban or those key themes that drive their narratives and associated stories. Specifically, the chapter focuses on the background of Taliban IO and its key themes or elements – religious concepts, cultural concepts, and political concepts. Each of these themes are discussed relative to their Afghan cultural significance and target audiences.
This is one of the more important chapters in that it explicitly compares the U.S. information campaign in Afghanistan to the Taliban’s campaign. The explicit stated goals and strategic communication themes of the U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom are assessed during two distinct time frames – 2001-2006 and 2007-2011. In assessing and comparing the U.S. information operation efforts versus the Taliban, a detailed analysis of different U.S. messaging techniques such as leaflets. As suggested above, these leaflets were assessed for early U.S. engagements to later in the conflict. Later U.S. IO efforts were examined using the U.S. PSYOP Book from 2009. The analyses concluded with the notion that the U.S. had to basically surrender to Taliban dominance in narratives and associated stories. The U.S. efforts basically refused to accept Afghan cultural reality, especially the Afghan peasant mental space. This had a devastating impact on U.S. and NATO rural counter-insurgency efforts. The U.S. had to concede a major portion of the Afghan battle space because the U.S. could not credibly respond to Taliban Islamic mores and troupes.
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