Afghanistan: look back on a year of brainwashing around the coming to power of the Taliban

Published on: 08/15/2022 – 17:42 A year ago, on August 15, 2021, the city of Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban. This event was accompanied for several weeks by a large number of false information disseminated on the networks. Back in image on these intox mixing criticism of the departure of the American army, support for the new masters of the country, and denunciation of violence. On August 15, 2021, just over a month after the official announcement of the withdrawal of the American army, the Taliban retook the city of Kabul and thus power in Afghanistan. On social networks, this capture of the country has led to the dissemination of a great deal of false information. Sometimes shared with the aim of praising the victory of the Taliban, of criticizing the departure of the American army, or even of making believe in abuses by using old images, these publications were massively distributed in August and September 2021 before become rare in the course of 2022.False images used to boast of the Taliban’s victoryIn Kabul, the day of August 15, 2021 was marked, among other things, by the hasty departure of Ashraf Ghani. Only days after denouncing the departure of the American army, the then president of Afghanistan finally fled the capital before it fell into the hands of the Taliban. This departure, as well as that of other members of the Afghan government at the time, and especially that of the American army, were accompanied by the use of images taken out of context. For example, as early as August 15, several Twitter accounts shared a video in which we see Ashraf Ghani boarding a plane. Screenshot of one of the tweets published on August 15, 2021 and sharing this video supposed to show the escape of the Afghan president. © Observers These images had in fact been shot on July 15, 2021, when the former Afghan president was leaving to attend a conference entitled “Central and South Asia: Regional Connectivity, Opportunities and Challenges”, which was held the next day in Tashkent, in Uzbekistan. Around September 20, 2021, pro-Taliban accounts as well as several Afghan media then shared images purporting to prove that Amrullah Saleh, former vice-president of Afghanistan, allegedly “stole money belonging to the Afghan people ”, before fleeing the country. In reality, these photographs taken in a bank in the United Arab Emirates predate April 2020. This video showing Amrullah Saleh predates April 2022. © Observers In France, some social media users were alarmed following the broadcast of a video showing several Taliban posing proudly in front of military armored vehicles. Like the French MP Eric Ciotti, these users claimed that they were tanks left by the American army which would then have been recovered by the Taliban. It was actually footage shot in front of abandoned Soviet-era tanks. This video does not show American weapons, but abandoned Soviet tanks near Kandahar airport. © Observers Afghan women targeted by poisoningIn Afghanistan, the return to power of the Taliban quickly led to the multiplication of deprivations of liberty and violence against Afghan women. The latest being the repression of a demonstration organized on August 13, 2022 in the streets of Kabul by women campaigning for their rights to work and education. But during the months of August and September 2021, several publications disseminated false images on social media purporting to represent these deprivations of liberty. For example, several accounts shared photographs showing Afghan women chained in the streets of Kabul. They were actually photomontages and old images taken out of context. These photographs purporting to show the persecution of Afghan women by the Taliban are either photomontages or old images taken out of context. © Observers Other accounts have also claimed, with video support, that enslaved women were sold at auction in the streets of Kabul. They were actually images taken during a demonstration organized in London in October 2014 by Kurdish activists denouncing human trafficking carried out by the Islamic State organization. Screenshot of one of the tweets, here posted on August 16, 2021, sharing this fake slave sale video. © Observers False images of persecution Finally, other accounts were indignant following the dissemination of several images supposed to demonstrate the extent of the persecutions and restrictions imposed by the Taliban on the entire Afghan population. These include a video, published in early September 2021, in which people are seen wrapped in several layers of plastic. These images did not show Christians being persecuted by the Taliban. They were filmed during an artistic and political performance organized in May 2021 in Colombia. These images were actually shot in Colombia on May 26, 2021. © Observers Later, in January 2022, netizens claimed that the Taliban had banned cellphone ownership. This false information was accompanied by a video showing armed men stomping on hundreds of phones. In reality, it was a video shot in Karachi, Pakistan, as the country’s authorities destroyed contraband phones on December 29, 2019. These images were shot in Karachi on December 29, 2021, not in Afghanistan. © Observers What are the consequences of this intox? Although the dissemination of false information has become rare since the start of 2022, it is not without consequences. As explained by Southasianvoices.org, a strategic analysis website on South Asia based in the United States, the dissemination of this false information benefits the Taliban. The site writes in particular: “False information on the abuses of the Taliban diverts attention from their real abuses, which have continued to proliferate since their takeover. […] The information vacuum that drives this wave of disinformation gives the Taliban cover to carry out more violent activities. […]False or unconfirmed reports focused on Taliban behavior – such as the alleged threat to launch an offensive in Panjshir – complicate efforts to get an accurate picture of the Taliban’s record. These considerations also apply to donor countries more broadly, particularly in the West: they will want to have a clearer picture of the Taliban’s record before deciding to dramatically increase financial aid that goes beyond humanitarian aid. But with so much misinformation, it will not be easy to gather the information needed for this assessment.”