Wearing a burka, CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward reported from Kabul as the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban.
The journalist highlighted the discordant images that she was witnessing, telling viewers that the Taliban were “just chanting death to America, but they seem friendly at the same time. It’s utterly bizarre.” Those remarks prompted widespread mockery by some pundits and politicians. Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted: “Is there an enemy of America for whom @CNN won’t cheerlead?”
This criticism misses an important point.
Reporting from terrorist-controlled countries and authoritarian states is inherently dangerous — a fact that terrorists and tyrants are happy to exploit and use to influence coverage. But broadcasting from a Kabul that is overrun with Taliban (militants with a history of murdering journalists), Ward and her staff were and are taking a tremendous risk.
Like other terrorist organizations, the Taliban hope to use the press for its propaganda aims. Since seizing Kabul, the Islamist movement has been holding press conferences. The Taliban have even sat for interviews with female journalists.
It’s all a ploy. Foremost among the Taliban’s propaganda objectives is convincing the West, in general, and the United States, in particular, that it has moderated and is no longer a barbaric, medieval group that represses dissent and brutalizes women and children.
Kyle Orton, a U.K.-based terrorism analyst, told me that the Taliban have opted to present an image of moderation and forgiveness: “Now, in Kabul, in sight of the cameras, the Taliban is on its best behavior so that it can consolidate itself in power without provoking mass resistance.” However, Orton speculated, “once firmly entrenched and the Western news cycle moves on, the terror can begin in earnest.”
Orton added that the Taliban have recently been “much more sophisticated in its use of the media” than in previous years. Part of this, he believes, may have to do with the influence of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service. The ISI has bolstered the Taliban over many years. Orton says that by feigning moderation and removing the threat of retribution, the Taliban “made it easier for locals to decide to surrender during the invasion phase of the conquest.”
Regrettably, there is some evidence that the Taliban’s strategy is working outside of Afghanistan. In an interview with Sky News, the uniform head of the British military said that the Taliban want to “live by a code of honor” and seek “an Afghanistan that is inclusive for all.”
Contrast that rhetoric with the footage that has already emerged showing the Taliban engaged in the brutal subjugation that has long been their calling card.
Put simply, whether the group’s public relations strategy succeeds will depend on brave reporters as much as skeptical viewers.
Sean Durns is a senior research analyst with CAMERA, the 65,000-member, Boston-based Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.
