Brit Govts new media plan to combat Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan

The British government is said to be working on a new media plan to counter the Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan to reach out to the nearly six million mobile phone users and nearly five lakh Internet users.

London, Oct 11 : The British government is said to be working on a new media plan to counter the Taliban propaganda in Afghanistan to reach out to the nearly six million mobile phone users and nearly five lakh Internet users.

According to a BBC report, non-governmental organisations would distribute new mobile phones to Afghans for them to make their own video diaries.

Anti-Western films made by the Taliban are already in circulation on Afghanistan's estimated six million mobile phones, and Internet users.

The plan, said to be "having merit" according to the UK's Foreign Office, has been devised by an outside consultant, added the report.

It envisages having up to 100 short films made by Afghans ready in time for a film festival next summer.

Whitehall officials say the aim is to deprive the Taliban of its virtual monopoly on propaganda using new media.

According to BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner, there was a growing realisation in Whitehall and Washington that the US-led coalition had been losing the propaganda war in Afghanistan to the Taliban. The coalition's reputation was particularly damaged by the recent distribution of mobile phone footage showing the bodies of dozens of Afghan civilians killed in a US-led raid in August.

On Sunday, the UK's commander in Afghanistan's Helmand province said that Britain should not expect a "decisive military victory" in Afghanistan.

ANI