Psychological Warfare in Afghan?

[bluecrayola]

You never really hear about what psychological games we are playing with the Taliban people to soften them up. Are they dropping propoganda leaflets? Transistor radios with messages? There is a serious talk about running TV spots on Al Jazeera television. Does anyone have any details?

[AndyJ]

BBC Monitoring picking up radio being broadcast over Afghanistan by the USA.

It was something like, “We are not trying to hurt the Afghan people only the Taliban”.

The BBC translators said it sounded patronising and the accent was quite poor.

Also there was a piece about if the USA so wished they could put pictures on your TV and stuff on your radio weather you liked it or not.

[Cabbage]

This report gives the text of some of the flyers being dropped over Afghanistan:

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/18/ret.flyers/

This report is about radio broadcasts directed at the Taliban:

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/17/ret.us.propaganda/index.html

The complete text of one of those broadcasts:

"Attention Taliban! You are condemned. Did you know that? The instant the terrorists you support took over our planes, you sentenced yourselves to death. The Armed Forces of the United States are here to seek justice for our dead. Highly trained soldiers are coming to shut down once and for all Osama bin Laden’s ring of terrorism, and the Taliban that supports them and their actions.

"Our forces are armed with state of the art military equipment. What are you using, obsolete and ineffective weaponry? Our helicopters will rain fire down upon your camps before you detect them on your radar. Our bombs are so accurate we can drop them right through your windows. Our infantry is trained for any climate and terrain on earth. United States soldiers fire with superior marksmanship and are armed with superior weapons.

“You have only one choice … Surrender now and we will give you a second chance. We will let you live. If you surrender no harm will come to you. When you decide to surrender, approach United States forces with your hands in the air. Sling your weapon across your back muzzle towards the ground. Remove your magazine and expel any rounds. Doing this is your only chance of survival.”

[Sofa_King]

That’s a lot less touchy-feely than I expected it to be. Good.

The proof will be in the pudding, however. Here’s a few more recent articles:

National Center for Policy Analysis

New Scientist

That second article recounts this absolutely wonderful event from the Gulf War:

“In Iraq, for example, Saddam Hussein tried to demoralise US troops by broadcasting messages that while they were away fighting, their sweethearts were being seduced by movie stars such as Bart Simpson.”