Ten years after the fall of the Taliban, who banned modern technology as un-Islamic, the use of social media in Afghanistan is booming as politicians, warlords and even militants rush to get their message across.
The hardline Islamists who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 and forbade the use of the Internet, deeming it a Western propaganda tool, now regularly use Twitter to promote their ideas and boast about attacks on NATO forces.
The militants are reluctant to discuss the thinking behind their Internet U-turn, but last year’s Arab Spring was a wake-up call to the Muslim world about the ability of social media to organize mass movements and communicate a message outside traditional channels.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said they would still ban the Internet or any other media outlet if they were used for “un-Islamic” purposes, but for now they are happy to use it as a public relations tool.
They have set up an official Web site featuring propaganda videos depicting their campaigns against US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, including scenes of attacks and bombings.
“The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan regards social media, in particular Facebook, as a useful way to communicate and pass messages of the Islamic Emirate to Afghans as well as foreigners,” Mujahid said. “In fact, the commission for cultural affairs of the Islamic Emirate encourages our people inside and outside Afghanistan to use social media to pass our messages to the Afghan nation as well as to the Westerners.”
“We know that Twitter is very popular among Westerners and we are using it to pass our message and philosophy to a different audience, including Westerners,” he added.
About 2 million people, less than 10 percent of the population, have computer access to the Internet, officials say, but the figure is rising and many more have access through the increasing use of smart phones.
The role of social media in the Arab Spring convinced one seasoned Afghan figure, Abdul Rashid Dostum — a former warlord who now has an official Facebook and Twitter account — his aide Homayoon Haqbeen said. Dostum, who is considered by many as the leader of Afghanistan’s Uzbek minority based largely in the north, is also part of the National Front, a political alliance planning a push for the presidency in 2014 elections.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, is constitutionally not allowed to seek another term, but is expected to present and back a successor.
Homayoon said Dostum wants to get his message out to young, energetic and educated Afghan youths as well as to a Western audience.
“Nowadays you see that almost all the active politicians and many Afghans interested in politics are on Facebook or Twitter,” he said.
Like the Taliban, Dostum knows that he can use the traditional channels of local elders and mullahs to address and mobilize poor and illiterate Afghans who make up most of the population in rural areas.
“We launch gatherings and rallies in some provinces, mainly rural areas to communicate and address those people who have no access to the Internet,” Dotsum said. “But we see social media as an effective way to communicate our messages with the educated Afghans inside and outside the country, as well as with the European and Americans who are engaged or interested in Afghanistan’s affairs.”
With a presidential election due in 2014 said the same year that NATO’s 130,000 troops are due to withdraw — a number of young Afghan MPs have already set up Facebook pages.
“As a member of parliament I find Facebook a wonderful tool to communicate with people, I really like it, this is a great tool for politicians to promote their work and personality,” Afghan MP Houmaira Ayoubi said. “I am excited to see thousands of young and educated Afghan men and women inside and outside Afghanistan are using Facebook and Twitter to discuss the political situation in the country.”
Ayoubi says watching the Arab Spring unfolding in the region gave her the idea to use social media to organize people in her constituency.
Afghans are also using Twitter and Facebook to bring about social change, particularly women, who are largely marginalized in what is a deeply conservative society.
A group called “Young Women For Change” recently opened Afghanistan’s first women-only net cafe in Kabul, named after Sahar Gul, a 15-year-old child bride who was tortured and jailed by her husband. While there are many Internet cafes in the Afghan capital, the group says women do not use them because they face male harassment.
“In addition to providing Internet access to women, we regularly hold training sessions for girls to teach them the importance of social media and how to use it in order to raise awareness about their rights,” Sahar Gul’s Netcafe manager Tooba Ahmadyar said.
She says though the move is largely symbolic, the opening of the cafe may boost the morale of Afghan women.
“If the Arabs managed to use Internet to mobilize against dictators, we can use it to form a strong front of educated Afghan men and women to stand against the oppression and defend our rights,” she said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was