Role of Social Media in Taliban’s Takeover of Afghanistan
On Sunday, 15th August 2021, reports were claiming that Ashraf Ghani the President of Afghanistan had fled the country, and this was later confirmed by the head of the Afghan National Reconciliation Council, Abdullah Abdullah in an online video. In the video, he stated, “The former president of Afghanistan left Afghanistan, leaving the country in this difficult situation. God should hold him accountable”. This signalled the end of a costly two-decade US campaign to remark the country. Armed Taliban fighters seized control of almost all of Afghanistan within a week and on Sunday, the insurgents reached the outskirts of the country’s capital, Kabul and later spread across the capital, capturing the abandoned presidential palace.
Among the chaos, social media and other forms of media communications have played an important role in offering an insight into the situation in Afghanistan. While the Taliban spokespersons actively use social media platforms such as Twitter to promote their agendas and showcase a peaceful transfer of power to the world, the news coverages and the sources from insiders show a whole different story.
One of the spokesperson of the Taliban in his Twitter handle urged residents of Kabul to remain calm ensuring that the fighters will not interfere or enter people’s homes and daily life affairs. They also claimed to ‘officially pardon’ those who were engaged with the Afghan government or foreign forces.
In a statement, the insurgents said, “No one’s life, property and dignity will be harmed and the lives of the citizens of Kabul will not be at risk.”
On Monday, social media giant Facebook confirmed that it labelled the Taliban as a terrorist group and has banned it along with content supporting it from all their platforms. Despite this, Taliban members are still active on Facebook’s end to end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to directly communicate with Afghan residents.
Suhail Shaheen and Zabihullah Mujahid, the official spokespersons of Taliban with over a combined 500k followers on Twitter as of 16th August 2021, actively tweet information regarding their achievements and situation.
When asked about the Taliban’s use of the platform, the company pointed to its policies against violent organizations and hateful conduct. The rules of Twitter suggest that it does not permit groups to promote terrorism and violence.
These companies are criticized by regulators and lawmakers globally for their huge political and economic influence, but in reality, these companies depend on state designations or official international recognitions to determine who are permitted on their sites. Alphabet’s YouTube refused to comment when asked whether it has imposed any kind of ban or restrictions on the Taliban but has been quoted saying that it relies on governments to define “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (FTO) to guide the site’s rules against violent criminal groups.
Whereas, on the other hand, there are reports of fear of revenge killings after a popular comedian Nazar Mohammad popularly known as Khasha Zwan was targeted and killed, there have also been other brutal tactics in areas of the country seized by the Taliban recently. Since Sunday (15th August 2021) there has been a lot of panics as the Taliban now hold every border crossing, people are rushing to flee the country through the airports. Also, due to reports of gunfire at the airport, the threat of violence has increased. As of 17th August 2021, some videos were going viral on Twitter showcasing the actual barbaric side of the Taliban irrespective of what their spokesperson is constantly tweeting about them being peaceful, in the video, the Taliban fighters are seen detaining and harassing people on the streets of Kabul and all of these are done when they think there are no media present on the streets. Another incident of Taliban open firing on demonstrators in the eastern city of Khost has been reported today (18th August 2021), when residents took down the white Taliban flag and replaced it with the black, red and green flag of Afghanistan.
According to an anonymous source from Kabul, “The Taliban was seen beating up women with wooden sticks and rubber pipes in the Kabul airport. Those who believe that the Taliban has changed from what they were in the 90s, it is only a misconception nothing about them has changed.”
Fear of losing freedom of speech and human rights, especially the fear has increased for women losing their rights with the return of the Taliban. There are high chances of Afghanistan becoming a safe haven for global terrorism all over again. The country is going back in time to its dark ages with a futuristic speed, and the Afghan population is bearing witness to digital age tools, meaning the heartache and terror is only a click away.