Will Pakistan ban Taliban Narratives for exposing army, ISI?

Pakistani readers will be lucky if a new book written by a US author, who is already an unwanted person there, reaches their hands--Taliban Narratives, written by Professor Thomas H. Johnson*, provides first hand information from primary sources, of what has gone wrong in Afghanistan.

Professor Johnson's writings puts the infamous spy service ISI on the mat, not in military fatigues but in its birth suit. "The eventual withdrawal of Afghan support from both “superpowers” created a power vacuum that the Pakistan military tried to exploit by using their InterServices Intelligence (ISI) Directive to sponsor the mujahidins’ attempt to overthrow the post-Soviet Afghan government." He notes the Talibans’ messaging  "is also supported and funded by the Pakistani military, especially the InterServices Intelligence (ISI) Directorate."

According to Professor Johnson, "Urdu published material helps spread inflammatory anti-Western and anti-domination sentiment among the Pakistani Pashtuns and other ethnic groups living in Pakistan.  It also provides “battlefield updates” and informs the Pakistani constituency of the unfolding events in neighboring Afghanistan."

"Urdu published material helps spread inflammatory anti-Western and anti-domination sentiment among the Pakistani Pashtuns and other ethnic groups living in Pakistan.  It also provides “battlefield updates” and informs the Pakistani constituency of the unfolding events in neighboring Afghanistan."

Taliban Narratives notes, "The great majority of the early suicide attacks carried out during the 2004-2006 appeared to be “outsourced” to non-Afghans, most often to Punjabis from the south of Pakistan and young foreign Islamists recruited from radical groups in the Middle East. Such attacks have targeted government officials such as Hakim Taniwal, the governor of Afghanistan's Paktia province; during his funeral another suicide bomber detonated an explosive device killing at least an additional six people."

Professor Johnson writes, "The pro-Hekmatyar Afghan News Agency (ANA) was headquartered in an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)[1] building in Islamabad. There, HIG and ISI propagandists worked side by side to roll out pro-Hekmatyar tracts. The Pakistani ISI played a major role in nearly all facets early HIG information operations and worked “side-by-side” with Gulbuddin’s propagandists until HIG lost ISI favor to the Taliban in 1994."

While their have been rumors of Taliban fighters being caught trying to travel clandestinely dressed in burqas, the authenticity of these rumors have been challenged, especially such images posted on social media. That being said, it must be stated that the media challenging these rumors have been Pakistani media sources and it is no secret that the Pakistani military and especially its InterServices Intelligence (ISI) Directorate has supported, protected and have given refuge to the Afghan Taliban for decades. This would suggest that some Pakistani media’s truth concerning the Taliban has to be questioned. The ISI has been accused of attempting to influence certain Pakistani media outlets and journalists, especially concerning issues of the Afghan Taliban and state-sponsored terrorism.

Professor Johnson has been appalled by what Pakistan army and ISI have been doing to the Baloch people in Balochistan and has recently joined the premier American Friends of Balochistan to help them.

Ambassador Tomsen's foreward

In the foreward to the book, Ambassador Peter Tomsen, who was among the first Americans to spot ISI dirty hands in Afghanistan after the US began Operation Desert Storm to dismantle the Taliban regime and the Al Qaeda--though the US itself had encouraged ISI there earlier when the Russians were there--, writes For over three decades, Pakistan’s powerful military intelligence agency, the InterServices Intelligence (ISI) Directorate, with funding from Saudi Arabia and support from Pakistani extremist sects, has funneled young Afghan refugees through a network of radical madrassas inside Pakistan preaching obligatory Holy War, to be followed by covert military training in ISI-managed military camps, and subsequent movement to a fighting front, Jihad, in Afghanistan."

Ambassador Tomsen, adds,  "A roughly equal number of Pakistan Pashtuns in poverty-stricken, uneducated families on the Pakistan side of the border continue today to make that same journey under the banner of ISI-created Pakistani religious paramilitary forces –Lashkar-e Taiba, Jaish-i Mohammed, Harakat-ul Mujahidin—all on the U.S. government’s Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.

Ambassador Tomsen writes nearly the entire propaganda production platform for the Taliban’s information campaign carried out inside Afghanistan is located in Pakistan and overseen by ISI:  magazine Al Samad, InFight, Shahamat, Elhan, Murchal; monthly pamphlet Srak; media studios and video production facilities El Emarah, al Hijirat, and Mana-ul Jihad. 

"Entire propaganda production platform for the Taliban’s information campaign carried out inside Afghanistan is located in Pakistan and overseen by ISI:  magazine Al Samad, InFight, Shahamat, Elhan, Murchal; monthly pamphlet Srak; media studios and video production facilities El Emarah, al Hijirat, and Mana-ul Jihad."

Tomsen notes, "Afghan Taliban media spokesmen inside Pakistan provide Taliban interpretation of events and news releases about developments in the Afghan War to international as well as to local journalists.  The media output of other radical Afghan insurgent groups operating from Pakistan –the anti-American firebrand Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the brutal Haqqani Network—are also disseminated into Afghanistan and internationally from Pakistan, in most cases from the Peshawar region where their leaderships live and freely operate.”

According to Tomsen, "As well-documented in Taliban Narratives, the propaganda themes remained basically the same during the Soviet occupation (1979-1999) and the post-9/11 American intervention in Afghanistan (October, 2001-present).  Taliban information operations aimed at mobilizing popular support behind the insurgency, motivating and recruiting fighters, have highlighted:
The Muslim Brotherhood, Qutubist mandate making it obligatory on every Muslim to conduct violent jihad to defend Islam (the radical Islamist so-called sixth pillar of Islam); 
The call to emulate past Afghan defeats of foreign invaders, with a special accent on ethnic Pashtun historiography, traditions, values and mythology towards that end;Afghan and Pashtun nationalism; 
Foreign sponsorship of an abusive, corrupt Afghan puppet government, and; 
Warnings to Afghans working in or supportive of the Afghan government and foreign occupiers.

Excellent expert reviews

Many Afghan experts and anaylsts have given flying colors to Taliban Narratives. "Johnson cuts through the mythology and misinformation about the enemy in America’s longest war. A superb book by one of our foremost experts on Afghanistan.’ — Michael Weiss, CNN National Security Analyst, and co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

 "Johnson cuts through the mythology and misinformation about the enemy in America’s longest war. A superb book by one of our foremost experts on Afghanistan." — Michael Weiss, CNN National Security Analyst, and co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

‘Taliban Narratives is a much needed and detailed look at how the Taliban has consistently outperformed the US and NATO in getting across its message. We and our Afghan partners could do much better if we use this guidance. Valuable lessons for the future as well.’ — Ronald Neumann, US Ambassador to Afghanistan, 2005-07

‘Deeply original and utterly authoritative: a captivating study of a vital subject.’ — Richard English, author of Does Terrorism Work? A History.

‘This is a very useful contribution to the analysis and studying of the Taliban and also Hizb-i Islami, in particular propaganda and how the Taliban have been portraying themselves. This rich analysis is based on material gathered in the field over the years.’ — Antonio Giustozzi, author of The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution.

‘Thomas Johnson has spent much of the past two decades thinking about how narratives and messaging are used in the Afghan conflict. Taliban Narratives examines both the insurgency’s development of a “strong story” as well as the weakness of international efforts to do the same. This empathetic reading of Afghan voices should be mandatory reading for international military forces working in Afghanistan.’ — Alex Strick van Linschoten, co-editor of The Taliban Reader.

‘In this meticulous assessment of primary sources, gathered over numerous years of research in Afghanistan, Thomas H. Johnson elucidates how the Taliban outflanked America and her Afghan allies in Kabul to win the war of ideas. This book deserves wide and considered attention.’ — C. Christine Fair, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and author of Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War.

‘Thomas Johnson smelled trouble in Afghanistan years before scepticism became fashionable among lesser experts. He raised the alarm from the inception of the war, warning that the world’s most powerful military forces were blundering into the country with little understanding of the local context. This excellent book chronicles his painstaking efforts to understand the war from an Afghan perspective, making a rigorous inquiry into the motivation of the insurgents. His book will find a well-deserved place on the bookshelves of any soldier, diplomat, or other student of South Asia.’ — Graeme Smith, author of The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War In Afghanistan.

‘Taliban Narratives provides a fascinating look into the propaganda war between the Taliban and the United States in Afghanistan. Packed with primary sources in translation, it deepens our understanding of the Taliban, of information operations, and ultimately of why the war has lasted so long.’ — Thomas Hegghammer. editor of Jihadi Culture: The Art and Social Practices of Militant Islamists.

‘In this meticulous assessment of primary sources, gathered over numerous years of research in Afghanistan, Thomas H. Johnson elucidates how the Taliban outflanked America and her Afghan allies in Kabul to win the war of ideas. This book deserves wide and considered attention.’ — C. Christine Fair, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, and author of Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War.

*Thomas H. Johnson is a Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, California).  He has conducted research and published widely on Afghanistan and South Asia for three decades. In 2009, he served as the Senior Political and Counterinsurgency Advisor to Gen. Jonathan Vance, Commander of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan (Task Force Kandahar).

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