The wars of the 21st century are not fought with bullets alone. Military schools and generals recognize that information and propaganda play a central role in modern warfare. The Taliban have learned their lesson and in their second conquest of Afghanistan they are displaying a communication skill that they lacked in the 1990s.
The Army Colonel Pedro Banos recognize The Digital Confidential that the Taliban of 2021 “are great experts (in communication) and they are showing it”, they use social networks for their political messages.
“There are many who tweet even in English, saying that there are a negative propaganda against them by the west and that they are not as they say, “says the colonel, adding that it is a” characteristic of the information war of our days “.
As the final Taliban offensive began ten days ago, a multitude of social media accounts supported the advance. The publications tried to convey security and tranquility to the locals and to the world when the insurgents entered the main cities. As well as small texts transmitting a concise message, cyber propagandists use videos and images that are reminiscent in style of those used by the Islamic State but adapted to the short video format of TikTok.
Facebook decided to put a stop to the use that the Taliban gave to their social networks to make propaganda. The North American multinational removed all posts that were related or appear to make propaganda for the insurgents. To carry out this purge, the company hid behind a policy of not allowing violent group content on the company’s social networks. Previously, other Islamists and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland had their content removed by the same rule.
Free speech
Twitter for its part has not eliminated the accounts of the Taliban and it allows them to fight in the warlike scene of public opinion. Furthermore, since the insurgents unilaterally declared the end of the war in Afghanistan, accounts have proliferated that try to portray a benevolent image of the Mujahideen.
In the meantime, my brother was martyred eight days ago in Khost Sabri and he also met you! pic.twitter.com/EKUxbh9ZyU
— Nasirullah Mansoor (@Unlucky31888101) August 17, 2021
It is not only the number of Afghans who support the insurgents that are increasing. Since last Saturday night, when the Afghan government collapsed, Twitter was filled with messages from the Taliban. These were written in English or Pashto, a language spoken by the Pashtun people who are the majority in Afghanistan. At first, they were seen receiving encouragement from the populations they were “liberating”, and sending alleged orders to the insurgents through the social network to imprison all the inmates, those of the Islamic State included, when they attacked the prisons to free their fighters
These messages They try to give security to the international community, that the new Islamic regime must recognize, and the Afghans that the Taliban will not support terrorism, will not commit outrages with the populationIt will not loot and there will be no retaliation for collaborators with the deposed government or with the West. They even went so far as to assure the Spaniards that they will respect the staff of the Spanish embassy.
All Kabul citizens and employees of every institution of the fallen regime should stay in their homes and seek help from the nearby Mujahideen when needed.
All male and female journalists should be able to stay in their offices or at home with full confidence to ensure the security of the city.
— Mansoor Afghan (@Mansoor14769892) August 15, 2021
Security is an issue the Mujahideen are trying to profit from. Continuously related profiles denounce looting by thieves dressed as their men and they show punishments to those who hunted criminals, for example walking two alleged criminals with a rope around their necks and their faces painted black.
The Taliban troops have undergone a notable facelift on social networks, and have gone from posing with the djellaba and Pakol hats, typical of Pashtun areas, to appearing with trimmed beards, clad in military uniforms and equipped with military equipment modern. The troops of the most professional Islamist group, the so-called Badri 313, contrasts with images from 30 years ago of barefoot guerrillas armed with rifles who may have served in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Badri 313 pieces
He is in charge of security in Arg and sensitive areas of Kabul city pic.twitter.com/dSSgnuAUbM— Qari Saeed Khosty (@SaeedKhosty) August 17, 2021
The communication made by accounts related to the Islamist movement on Twitter also tries to promote, in the face of the outside, a very different image from the one they gave in 2001 when they dynamited the 1,500-year-old Bamiyan Buddhas. At the same time that their spokesmen give press conferences on television, those related to the group on social networks report that, in the country, the woman will be able to work, as the Koran indicates; marking distances with one of the most controversial points of his previous government at the end of the 90s, the total submission of women.
Information and misinformation
However, the Taliban also use Twitter to cross out as fake news news given by his enemies. In the past few hours, the child of the late leader of the Northern Alliance, Ahmad Shah Masud, announced that the fight against the Taliban would continue in the province of Panshir. At the same time, the Taliban tweeters announced that their group had taken control of the entire province, so there would be no resistance there.
Now the whole country is under the rule of the invaders from Panjshir
Panjshir province is now completely in the hands of the invaders
The governor’s office and all its facilities
The Mujahideen conquered
Numerous vehicles and other ammunition as well
The captured Swedes and a large number of soldiers surrendered.— Mansoor Afghan (@Mansoor14769892) August 16, 2021
The mujahideen also take advantage of the networks to attack the fled president after the debacle of the Afghan state, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, which they accuse of being corrupt and abandoning his people; and in his case, it seems that there will be no forgiveness because they ensure that he will pay for his actions.
The public opinion has become a battlefield; and it seems that Twitter does not mind being a weapon of war, unlike the fake news or inducing robberies on the United States Capitol.
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