Richard Stengel

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The Taliban Want You to Keep Your Phone On

MundoOriente Próximo,

On Aug. 14, a day before armed fighters swarmed into Kabul, a Twitter account for one of the Taliban’s magazines posted a video of six nervous Afghan government soldiers sitting in a truck surrounded by Taliban warriors. The post included a snippet of text, in Pashto, one of the two main languages of Afghanistan: “While the mujahedeen behave generously to soldiers, the children of the village threw stones at them and called them dogs. That’s what happens in response to their atrocities.” The same day, a spokesman for the Taliban posted another Twitter message, this time in English, promising that the group would create “a secure environment” for all diplomats, embassies and nonprofits, both domestic and international.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAméricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional,

Radical Islamic extremism.

There, I’ve said it.

For three years, as under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, I would not and could not utter that phrase. No one in the Obama administration could or did. We used the much less specific term “violent extremism.” As in “countering violent extremism,” which is what we called much of our anti-Islamic State efforts.

And for all of that time, we were collectively excoriated by conservatives, Republicans and Donald J. Trump.

“These are radical Islamic terrorists, and she won’t even mention the word, and nor will President Obama,” Mr. Trump said, referring to Hillary Clinton at a presidential debate last year.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Syrian boy in April recites verses from the Quran at a teaching center designed to counter Islamic State indoctrination. (Hussein Malla/Associated Press)

MundoAméricaInternacionalTerrorismo Internacional, ,

Let’s examine the prevailing media narrative that the United States is “losing the digital war” with ISIL, also known as Daesh (as it’s called in the Muslim world) or the Islamic State (as it’s ordinarily referred to in The Post). The terrorists’ videos of ghoulish beheadings and slow-motion executions have earned them single-digit approval among Muslims. Only 1 percent of the 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide support their actions, while only about 5 percent support their goals. That’s not trivial, but it’s not exactly winning, either.

Next, look at what media folks call “share.” There were about 230,000 mentions of the group across various social media platforms on an average day last year.…  Seguir leyendo »