Panjshir - Today, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies launched the translation of the #book "#Taliban Narratives: the Use and Power of Stories in the #Afghanistan #Conflict" by Professor Thomas Johnson, non-resident at AISS and Professor at U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. The book is translated by Ferdaws Kawish, Editor-in-Chief of Hashte Subh Daily Newspaper and published by AISS.
The launch ceremony was accompanied by a panel discussion with Ferdaws Kawish and Dr. Ahmad Zaki Khawarnia, religious scholar, and moderated by AISS colleague, Ejaz Malikzada.
Ferdaws Kawish discussed why the book ‘Taliban Narratives’ is a significant work. Providing a brief overview of the book, he discussed how the Taliban use indigenous means of propaganda, such as poetry, Shab-Naama and story-telling. He also discussed Taliban's use of digitized means of propaganda, such as, Facebook and Twitter.
He said that throughout the years, we have studied the conflict with the Taliban from military perspective, but this is the first research that has paid on Taliban’s war of information in Afghanistan.
Dr. Ahmad Zaki Khawarnia briefly critiqued the book and said that the book explains the Taliban's use of different means of information and propagation and its success; however it does not provide enough information on why and how the Taliban religious narrative appeal to certain people.
The program ended with an engaging Q&A discussion with the audience. The event was facilitated by the Masood Foundation and the governor of Panjshir which AISS expresses its appreciation for their assistance.