TALIBAN PROPAGANDA: WINNING THE WAR OF WORDS?

This paper discusses the conflict in Afghanistan with a specific focus on the Taliban and their propaganda mechanism. It also looks at the current situation with regards to Afghanistan’s political landscape before proposing recommendations to the government, the governments of countries contributing troops and donors.

It  is stressed that the Taliban has created a sophisticated communications apparatus that projects an increasingly confident movement. Using the full range of media, it is successfully tapping into strains of Afghan nationalism and exploiting policy failures by the Kabul government and its international backers. The result is weakening public support for nation-building, even though few actively support the Taliban. The authors state that the Karzai government and its allies must make greater efforts, through word and deed, to address sources of alienation exploited in Taliban propaganda, particularly by ending arbitrary detentions and curtailing civilian casualties from aerial bombing. However, the research argues that analysing the Taliban’s public statements has limits, since the insurgent group seeks to underscore successes – or imagined successes – and present itself as having the purest of aims, while disguising weaknesses and underplaying its brutality. But, the method still offers a window into what the movement considers effective in terms of recruitment and bolstering its legitimacy among both supporters and potential sympathisers.

Key recommendations put forward include:

• the Government of Afghanistan must not block the flow of information, but seek instead to disclose more, in an open and timely manner, and build morale
  
• the government must also build the morale of the security forces by having senior officials regularly visit Afghan army and police units around the country, and put a human face on the violence by assisting the wounded and bereaved families
  
• the governments of countries contributing international troops should improve communications with Afghans on the directions and activities of the international engagement, while ensuring an Afghan lead in appropriate areas
  
• donors should emphasise the building and reform of judicial and detention systems in which detainees can be handled safely and legitimately and held to account within a rule-of-law system.