October 10, 2008
Mobile phones to take on Taleban propaganda in Afghanistan
A plan to use mobile phones to combat Taleban propaganda in Afghanistan is being considered by the UK Government, reports the Times Online.
"Mobile phones would be distributed by non-governmental organisations to Afghans so that they could make and share their own videos to contradict the prevailing Taleban message, according to a BBC report.
Anti-Western films already circulate on Afghanistan's estimated six million mobiles and are spread among the country's half a million internet users.
The new media plan, said to be devised by an outside consultant to the Foreign Office, envisages having up to 100 short films made by Afghans ready in time for a film festival next summer according to the BBC.
Whitehall officials say the aim is to deprive the Taleban of its virtual monopoly on propaganda using new media, the BBC says.
The coalition's reputation has been damaged by the spread of mobile footage such as the film distributed after a US-led raid in August that showed rows of bodies of children and babies in a makeshift morgue."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2008/10/021417.htm