Taliban's Internet Strategy -- Information Power

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on its website late last week ("The Taliban's Internet Strategy," Sept. 9, by Bashir Ahmad Gwakh), that the Taliban is developing an increasingly sophisticated Internet-based strategic communication approach in its fight against the United States and other Western nations.

In its report, RFE/RL quoted Abdul Sattar Maiwandi, the web editor of a Taliban website, who addressed the importance of information in warfare and the influence of news media. Reportedly, in an interview with Al-Emarah, the official Taliban website, Abdul Sattar Maiwandi observed, "Wars today cannot be won without media." He then added, "Media aim at the heart rather than the body, [and] if the heart is defeated, the battle is won."

Abdul Sattar Maiwandi seems to have studied well the strategic art of information in warfare. As I have learned here at the U.S. Army War College, victory in asymmetric warfare often means simply surviving. Despite the U.S.-led coalition's dismantling of the Taliban government in Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, Taliban resistance continues and, some claim, is in resurgance in Afghanistan. If so, this development would support the notion that a smaller, more poorly armed group could outlast a more powerful force by avoiding destruction while it erodes the political will and means for that force to continue fighting.

This is not unlike the situation that Western governments now find themselves in, with economic conditions that are leading to reductions in military budgets and a refocusing of public attention from international conflict to domestic problems. At least in the United States, however, public opinion still supports the fight against terrorism, with nearly two-thirds of U.S. citizens expressing a willingness to give up some personal privacy and freedoms to continue the fight. Click here for more from AP.

Still, public support among Western nations seems to be at a tipping point, which increases the need for effective strategic communication efforts to counter and defeat Taliban propaganda. The reports of Taliban propaganda efforts are not new. News organizations like the BBC have been covering this story for nearly a decade.

But recent reports of the Taliban's use of social media and other emerging Internet-based forms of communication to prey upon willingness to fight further highlight the need to stay ahead of the Taliban in terms of employing information as an element of power. Organizations like the U.S. Army War College's Information in Warfare Group in the Center for Strategic Leadership are at the forefront of this effort. Visit the group's website for details of its information programs.

But more work may be needed to counter any increased investments by the Taliban in its information campaign. Just consider the alternatives. According to a BBC report in 2009, "The propaganda fight is intense because whoever wins it will gain the support of the people and stands a chance of winning the war on the ground too."