It is being reported that the United States is planning on starting a major “psychological operation” that would seek to disrupt and curtail Taliban use of radio and Internet communication in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The aim would be to hurt the insurgents’ ability to coordinate attacks and strategy, as well as their propaganda efforts to spread their power and influence throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The Taliban have effectively utilized unlicensed radio signals to announce targeted individuals and spread fear over the Afghan/Pakistan borderland. It is amazing to me that such efforts to combat these communication lines hasn’t already been a major US priority.
“The Taliban aren’t just winning the information war — we’re not even putting up that much of a fight,” said a senior U.S. official in Afghanistan. “We need to make it harder for them to keep telling the population that they’re in control and can strike at any time.”
The unnamed US officials which helped bring this new strategy to light emphasized that this was not a ‘propaganda’ campaign, but just a way to stop the Taliban from intimidating the local population, planning attacks, and promoting their dangerous world view.
“It’s not an issue of trying to persuade your average Pakistani farmer to love the U.S.,” a U.S. official said. “The idea, frankly, is to muddy the water a bit.”
On the flip side, I think it would be productive to get the Afghan national government’s voice more vocal while at the same time muffling the insurgents. Let the population know that their government has a voice and that they can rely on someone else besides the Taliban. Communication systems, such as the radio and Internet, are an immensely powerful tool and ones opponent cannot be allowed to effectively use them, let alone dominate them.
