Current Events > With the US is out, the Taliban can do what they love most. Swan pedal boating.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/Jake_Hanrahan/status/1439304675514273800

Next comes to the orgy (no women allowed)

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I feel like a lot of this stuff we're seeing is some kinda "cute", fun having, somewhat harmless image they're trying to sell the world

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g0ldie posted...

I feel like a lot of this stuff we're seeing is some kinda "cute", fun having, somewhat harmless image they're trying to sell the world

probably should have left the RPGs at home

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they need at least one RPG, otherwise we might not recognize it's the Taliban

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thronedfire2 posted...

probably should have left the RPGs at home

The RPG and other weapons are there so folks will go, "Yep, that's the Taliban"

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g0ldie posted...

I feel like a lot of this stuff we're seeing is some kinda "cute", fun having, somewhat harmless image they're trying to sell the world

A big difference between the Taliban now and 20 years ago is they used to ban all use of social media, but now they have entire offices dedicated to it. They learned the strength of propaganda and that if they come out and say one thing while doing another, most of the world will take a "wait and see" approach in response. It doesn't help that Twitter just lets them do whatever they want.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-58466939

But they also did something less common in the group's history of conflict in the country - they launched a comprehensive social media campaign to go with it.

A network of social media accounts highlighted the alleged failures of the Kabul government while lauding the Taliban's achievements.

Tweets boasted about the group's recent victories - sometimes prematurely - and pushed several hashtags, including #kabulregimecrimes (attached to tweets accusing the Afghan government of war crimes); #westandwithTaliban (an attempt to drive grassroots support) and #____ (help from God and victory is near). The first of the hashtags at least trended in Afghanistan.

Zabihullah Mujahid's first Twitter account was suspended by the company, but his new account - active since 2017 - has more than 371,000 followers. Underneath him is a dedicated team of volunteers promoting the Taliban's ideology online.

The reported head of that group - effectively the social media director of the IEA - is Qari Saeed Khosty.

Mr Khosty told the BBC the team had separate groups focused on Twitter - attempting to get Taliban hashtags trending - as well as disseminating messages on WhatsApp and Facebook.

There are just 8.6 million internet users in Afghanistan, and absence of network coverage and affordable data remains a key challenge. The IEA social media team team pays 1,000 Afghanis (8.33; $11.51) per month for data packages for team members "fighting their war online", Mr Khosty said.

He boasted that the IEA had "four fully equipped multimedia studios that are used for generating audio, video content and digital branding".

The result is high-quality propaganda videos glorifying Taliban fighters and their battles against foreign and national forces, widely available on their YouTube and Al-Emarah websites.

The group publishes freely on Twitter and YouTube, but Facebook has designated the Taliban a "dangerous organisation" and frequently removes accounts and pages associated with them. Facebook has said it will continue to ban Taliban content from its platforms.

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^ yea, that goes more into depth of what I was trying to get at - stuff like the Taliban paddle boarding or dancing to Drake is all propaganda to try to help soften their image.

none of that stuff is spontaneous, it's all photo ops

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