Taliban confronts ‘fake news’ in propaganda war
ISLAMABAD: Fighting “fake” news, wrestling with social media, and deploying an intern army — the Taliban’s sprawling propaganda machine embraces modernity even as the group vows to enforce Islamist controls on journalists if it returns to power.
Notorious for banning TV and radio under its iron-fisted 19962001 regime, the militants have proven surprisingly deft at adapting to the ever-changing nature of modern media.
The Taliban’s official spokesman now tweets real-time updates about battlefield operations and its media arm stays in direct contact with journalists.
“Media is considered one side of the struggle,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said via WhatsApp.
“We are not against modern technology. This is the need of the hour and using it is not against syariah,” a senior Taliban source with links to the insurgents’ media wing said.
But the source admits his team struggles at times to control their own narrative.
High-profile interviews have taken place without the media wing’s knowledge, sparking hurried denials along with confusion over the identity of the interviewee and whether he can really claim to speak for the Taliban.
Fake or unauthorised accounts sprout often on social media, while their official Facebook pages and Twitter handles are regularly banned, only to be restarted under another name.
Even the official spokesman, Mujahid, is believed to be not one man but a moniker used to issue statements.
The increasingly refined production has not gone unnoticed, with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation officials regularly briefing top generals on Taliban content.
Journalists said insurgents are also often more responsive than the government.
“When a journalist was killed in Farah province, (a few) weeks back, I wrote to the Taliban spokesman, and I got the reply in minutes,” said A. Mujeeb Khalvatgar, the director of an Afghan media support group, who said he is still waiting for a statement from the president’s office.
But information remains difficult to verify. Pakistani journalist Tahir Khan, who showed a stream of messages, photos and voice recordings from the Taliban on his mobile phone, said the information was “not usually correct”.
But the battle for the truth might not matter. “This war... one major factor is psychological propaganda,” he said.
In the 17 years since the US invasion, Afghanistan’s media has flourished.
“Now (the Taliban are) using media a lot. It doesn’t mean they believe in freedom of expression,” said Khalvatgar.
“It means that they know how to use the media as a propaganda tool, not as a right of the people.”