The United States’ Afghan Information and PSYOP Campaign and a Comparison to the Taliban’s Campaign

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.

The Taliban’s Use of the Internet, Social Media Video, Radio Stations, and Graffiti

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.

Target Audiences of Afghan Narratives and 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.

Conclusions

This chapter suggests that the Taliban maintained simple strategic communication objectives that resonated with their major targeted audiences. The main Taliban messages revolved around: removing foreign invaders from Afghanistan; Afghans have traditionally defeated foreign “infidel invaders”; the Taliban are selfless heroes defending Islam and an Afghan’s way of life; every Afghan has an obligation to join the jihad; the Kabul Government is apostate, corrupt and a puppet of the U.S.; likewise, the Afghan security forces are corrupt and ineffective, and; NATO and the U.S. are killing Afghan innocents. In conclusion, the Taliban information artifacts appear to be deeply rooted in the Afghan people. They appeal to emotions, that foe the most part, are not understood by the West. This lack of understanding, in par, has ultimately doomed Western engagement in Afghanistan and contributed to the West losing the battle of the story in Afghanistan and, therefore, the war.

The Layeha, the Taliban Code of Conduct1

This chapter examines and compares a variety of Taliban’s Layeha or “codes of conduct. While these codes of conduct present explicit procedures as well as rules and regulations that Taliban leadership demand that their followers/insurgents follow relative to tactical and strategic objectives, these codes also represent sophisticated Taliban information operations. The Layeha presents how the Taliban, as an organization, plan to pursue their short- and long-term objectives. Chapter 8 explicitly compares and contrasts the codes of conduct published in 2010 and 2009 (and some discussion of the 2006 Layeha). An overview of these comparisons is presented in Tables 8.1 and 8.2. The chapter also presents the explicit Mullah Omar statements on the Layehas (Table 8.3). In addition the chapter presents an organizational analysis of the Taliban. Figure 8.1 presents the provincial military force structure of the Taliban and Table 8.4 presents the Taliban’s chain of command.

The Taliban’s Use of Shabnamah (Night Letters)1

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.

Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) Propaganda Activities

While the vast majority of this book examine Taliban narratives and associated stories, the chapter focuses on the propaganda of Hezb-e-Islami (Gulbuddin) and its variety of IO delivery mechanisms: Oqab (Eagle) Website; EID messages, printed media (Shahadat – Martyrdom; Tanweer – Enlightenment), internet and social media, DVDs and videos. The major themes of HIG’s propaganda include: exploiting collateral damage by the U.S. Coalition, HIG’s inevitable victory, permanent of coalition military bases in Afghanistan, fraudulent Afghan elections, and a HIG peace proposal. The chapter also assesses the very significant role of Pakistan in the development of HIG narratives and associated stories.

The Afghans’ and Taliban’s Use of Poetry and Taranas1

Poetry has long been a central pillar of Afghan Literature and the Taliban have used it extensively in their IO campaign. Poetry is important to the Taliban and Afghans in general because it is essentially a spoken, not written art, so it accessible to the illiterate, especially rural Afghan population. The chapter examines a wide variety of Taliban poetry and also poetry written by those sympathetic to the Taliban. Each poem also includes an explanation of the story associated with it. An analysis of Taliban poetry to those of moderate Afghan poets. The chapter also focuses on 8 or poetic chants that have traditionally played an important role in the communication of local afghans. Numerous chants and their associated stories are examined that often reflect the manipulation by the Taliban of Afghan traditions, narratives, collective memory of events, and culture. These chants focus on themes such as: Taliban victory is inevitable, Islam can never be defeated, the Taliban are national heroes, Afghans have a long history in defeating invading foreign “infidels”, and all Afghans have an obligation to join the jihad to defeat invaders and apostates.

Taliban and Afghan Insurgent Magazines, Circulars, and Newsletters

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.

An Overview of Taliban and Other Afghan Insurgent Stories and an Assessment of their Master Narratives

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.