While the speed of the Taliban take over of Afghanistan was perhaps a surprise, the ultimate result, at least in my humble opinion – was not.
In the interests of full disclosure, I remind readers that I am a Viet Nam Veteran, and as one of my colleagues used to say “Deja Doo Doo – I have seen this shit before.”
I am not going to dwell on the operational aspects, but to point out that the Taliban have learned that there is much to be gained by influencing perception. The August 20, 2021 online NY Times ran “How the Taliban Turned Social Media into a Tool for Control” (see: https://nyti.ms/3zgvDdZ
The Taliban were quick to capitalize on their operational success and to leverage social media as a way to influence their opposition that in the words of the Borg “Resistance is futile.” This is a cost-effective and judicious battlefield multiplier. As you may recall I posted “Of Course The Taliban Are PSYOP Experts! They Don’t Have Much Competition” (see: PSYOP Regimental Blog: Of Course The Taliban Are PSYOP Experts! They Don’t Have Much Competition!).
Creativity is not lost on the Taliban and they have recognized the importance of personification by alluding to “Tommy Ghani”. Sort of an Afghan “Uncle Tom” if you will, Tommy Ghani, according to the Times and other publications is a derogatory term for Afghans who adopt Western ways using their former President Ashraf Ghani who is currently residing in the UAE along with millions of dollars he took with him when he left.
Afghans with mobile phones are fair targets for Taliban propaganda. “Experts estimate that 70% of the population has access to a mobile phone.” FaceBook and Twitter are the primary vehicles.
The Taliban recognize that they don’t have to change world opinion to benefit from social media. They understand that targeted influence to reduce opposition, particularly from those in a position to harm them or orchestrate others can be a tremendous battlefield multiplier.
However, there are also two sides to the Taliban social media coin as well.
Some believe that online resistance can be expected especially from the generation that grew up under the previous permissive administrations.
The networks that serve as the vehicle for Taliban social media are also lucrative sources for NATO intelligence. Breaking Defense featured an article on August 24, 2021, “Afghanistan’s Precarious Networks: Will the Taliban, Once Again, Go Dark?” (See: https://bit.ly/3sGNMzo, which is also a photo source). The nub of the article is simple: “The Taliban now faces a decision: Ban the internet as the group did during its first rule, while hindering its propaganda windfall and other online activities, or leave the country's networks intact, allowing an avenue for continued US electronic surveillance.”
It is pretty clear that today’s Taliban has indeed learned about influence operations during the past twenty years. NATO is no longer on the ground, it remains to be seen if they can effectively harness the information domain for future operations.
