Limor Simhony Philpott

The rise of Taliban Twitter

(Getty images)

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan was swift, but this victory wasn’t won overnight. For years, the Taliban has been waging a softer fight: one on social media. Since it was removed from power, the Taliban has dedicated enormous resources to developing its presence online. 

As it successfully recaptured Afghanistan, the propaganda opportunities which it put to use on Twitter as the eyes of the world watched suggested these efforts have paid off. Images and videos of Taliban forces easily gaining ground and advancing into Afghanistan’s cities – picking up military hardware left by the Americans along the way – spread like wildfire online. Islamists around the world were delighted. 

In the years since it was kicked out of Afghanistan, the Taliban claims to have changed. To an extent this is true, but not in the way you might think. 

When it first came to power in 1996, the Taliban banned the internet. Now, it has come to recognise its use

While the Taliban is no less bloodthirsty and ruthless in dealing with its critics and opponents, it now cares more than it did about its appearance in the Western world. When it first came to power in 1996, the Taliban banned the internet. Now it has come to recognise its use and is seeking to use social media to create a positive international image for itself. 

Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s spokesperson, has nearly 400,000 Twitter followers. Suhail Shaheen, another official has almost half-a-million followers, and was this week sharing on Twitter the results of the Taliban cabinet reshuffle. Shaheen has also been eager to show that the Taliban is a serious organisation dedicated to governing Afghanistan properly: one of the first videos he posted in the wake of the American withdrawal was a video of a road being rebuilt. It was a dull clip, but the message was clear: ‘Time to roll up sleeves and build Afghanistan’, he wrote.

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