Summary:
In Lashkar Gah Afghanistan the Taliban are forcing cell phone providers to turn off their towers at eight o’clock every night. If the providers do not turn off the towers the Taliban will bomb and destroy them. The modern tools of technology that the Taliban once refused to acknowledge they now use to their advantage. With NATO forces ready to leave Afghanistan, the Taliban looks like it is a good position to take over. The Taliban are gaining psychological power forcing Afghanistan citizens to question whether their government can protect them.
Question:
Does this author exemplify bias that the Taliban will succeed in overtaking Afghanistan after NATO troops leave in 2014? Or does the author do a good job of providing information about NATO’s future departure and Afghanistan’s government ability to survive after they leave?
Additional Question to ponder: Will the Taliban need to use more physical violence or psychological influence to gain control of Afghanistan?
Based upon the comments I have read on The New York Times regarding this article, there is a resounding agreement. Overall, there is a disagreement with the US’s involvement in helping fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. People either propose solutions and ideas, or they belittle the White House for its course of actions. In total, the commenters agree on the fact that our troops need to return to America. Both Mark and Greenpolar have the resounding message that we need to “come back home, secure our borders. If they want freedom, they must earn it themselves.” In theory, the readers value maintaining their own country, the US, and no longer having to lose family members who are fighting to aide countries constantly “fuel[ing] an aura of crisis”.
ReplyDeleteThe Taliban will have more success in gaining control using psychological influences. With NATO forces presence, it will be more difficult to use physical violence. The Afghan citizens remember the violence and control that the Taliban once had and the threat of this violence will be a means to greater control than carrying out isolated attacks. The Taliban can gain greater control by making the people think they can prevent future violence by complying with the Taliban's orders.
ReplyDeleteThe article seems to show more of an argument, between whether the Taliban will, or will not rise to power, rather than a bias. NATO brings up the concern of whether the Taliban has had a change of heart or is just playing a psychological game with the Afghan people. It makes me question the the changing views of the new Taliban leader. How does the use of cell phones really affect the Taliban? However, if they want to stop communications between not only the peoples of their country, but the complete outside world, what will be next? As our troops leave the Afghan people to fend for themselves, who’s to say the Taliban won't try to regain strict control? They may never allow communication outside their own country. Maybe the Taliban will try to win over the hearts of the people; they clearly know how to manipulate them. Even if they start to come off as good guys, history is doomed to repeat itself. They will win people's hearts and then crush them as if they never cared. The government is still rocky it seems, while the Taliban is more experienced when it comes to running the show.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the quotes from the article states, "Where should they go and complain? Who should they go to and complain? The government? Innocent people get arrested and get killed by the government, and no one cares about them." This quote seems to arise the reader's sympathy for Afghanistan. Throughout many years, America was involved in many wars to help other countries out. This makes the readers to feel that American troops have the obligation to stay in Afghanistan and help them out until Afghans are free from the Taliban.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article, I feel as if the author does show bias that the Taliban will succeed. The author writes as if the Afghan government is completely useless, is pure evil, and no one trusts it. When NATO is supposed to leave in 2014, it is not leaving completely. In 2014, the combat operations are set to stop, but NATO, especially the American forces, will still be there as security forces. NATO foces will still be there to protect the government and the people of the Afghanistan the best they can. It will be very difficult for the Taliban to take control again in Afghanistan and they will need more than physical and psychological violence to win.
ReplyDeleteThe taliban clearly still have control over Afghanistan. The shutting off of cell phone towers just reaffirms their control. NATO is essentially helpless against the taliban and are fighting a losing battle. Once NATO withdraws their troops from Afghanistan the taliban will once again take over. The only way to prevent the taliban from taking over relies in the Afghani civilians. They have to not allow the mental and psychical attempts of the taliban control them.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article, it seems as though the author has a slight bias viewpoint of the Taliban's control over Afghanistan. Overall, however, the author leaves the audience to decipher how the future will play out. It is evident that the readers gain a negative picture about the troops leaving and letting the government take control. Although, we see that there is potential for the Taliban not to take complete control over the people, there is no guarantee they will go back to their old ways. In my opinion, I think they will use a mixture of psychological and physical influence over the people, considering they already have. Destroying the cell phone towers demonstrated they have the physical strength to do what they want. Using this as a threat, fear is put into the people's minds on how to act in the future. Once the troops leave, it is possible for the future to become worse. The author is clear in showing the negative possible outcomes for the fure Afghani people.
ReplyDeleteAdding to Leanne's comment, nearly all of the readers who commented on the NYT article responded by saying that the American troops need to return home. One comment that I found particularly interesting stated, "Our enemy has realized that they are fighting guys from the future." Taliban knows that if they cut off American technology (cell phone use in particular) then they will be able to control Afghanistan, have an easier time fighting the Americans, and hopefully push the troops out of the country. The Taliban's tactics are very smart and sneaky. Cutting off the cell phone towers also hurts the citizens of Afghanistan making them more vulnerable to follow the Taliban's orders. The author wrote this article knowing what the Americans would want to hear. He is leaning towards the popular American opinion that the Taliban is slowly gaining control and the American troops need to leave. The purpose of the author's post was to remind the American citizens that there is a serious problem in Afghanistan and American troops are caught in the middle of it.
ReplyDeleteIn one of the comments under the article, a reader discusses that he believes that the new strategy that the Taliban is utilizing, that is resisting future tech and fighting "in the past" is working. Like Ms. Martinez states, by cutting off cell phone usage they are reminding the people that they are still under Taliban control. However, the Taliban are also cutting off the only avenue that the NATO forces have to seek out and destroy them. NATO wire taps and informants using cell phones to call in locations of insurgents are two of the most effective ways NATO forces have in finding the enemy.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious as to how the Taliban's influence will escalate as NATO troops begin to withdraw.
To concur with Abby, the Taliban will have to use more psychological influence in order to control the Afghans. With more physical attacks, the Afghans will learn to expect the attacks more and more. Over time and with in depth planning, all the Afghans will be able to join together and defend themselves from the Taliban (almost like a revolt). As a result, the Afghans would be the ones in control and the Taliban would be powerless. However, with more psychological influence, the Afghans would remain in fear of the Taliban. The Afghans would eventually become brainwashed and follow the Taliban's rules as if they were their own. As a result, the Taliban would have total control over every aspect of the Afghans' lives.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading through the comments on the article, I found one that really stood out to me. In a very lengthy comment, someone stated that "There's nothing in Afghanistan that needs to be reported out to the rest of the world anyway." He basically goes on to make multiple statements de-humanizing the people of Afghanistan, saying that they basically don't matter as human beings and that we should stop trying to help them. One of his remarks thats really stood out to me was "Let those uneducated, dirt poor, religious fanatics have that worthless piece of drug ridden mountainous terrain all to themselves." This commenter basically has no empathy for the lives of the Afghanistan citizens and pretty much believes that they don't deserve the have cell phone coverage in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with most of the comments suggesting that the author was biased in her article about whether or not the Taliban will succeed in overtaking Afghanistan after the NATO troops leave. The author seems to present the information about the Taliban establishing themselves as a presence of power both to the government there and the people. The control of the cell phone towers and companies due to strategic assassinations and attacks does make the presence of the Taliban known. The author though, does not enforce this idea, but rather states that it is an idea. Also, it seems as though the Taliban will need to use a combination of psychological influence and physical violence in order to take over. It seemed as though that is how they gained the power that they have now. They used physical violence to gain power over the cell phone companies and then used that power for psychological influence on the people and the government by shutting down their cell phones. It seems that they used a combination in the past and will have to continue to do so in the future.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with some of my classmates about the bias present in this article. It appears that the author was biased from the beginning. He writes about the Taliban controlling land, yet this time that is not so important because they now have opted for a more technological approach for control over the Afghani people. He states, "the question is whether the Taliban need to hold territory as they once did in order to influence the population. Increasingly, it seems, the answer is no." I feel as if the author has the audience in a worried state right from the start. He makes it out to seem like there is hope, but not a whole lot. Like Cassy said, "history repeats itself." That is what this article is leading to. I think overall this piece creates a lot of curiosity as to how the future of Afghanistan will pan out. While a little biased, I feel as if he does a pretty good job displaying the story for both sides, it's just that it doesn't look good for the Afghani government.
ReplyDeleteAlex has a good point in saying it doesn't look good for the Afghan government. Whether or not our troops are their will not solve the problem addressed in this article. The Taliban have asserted their power in the past, and this results in everlasting fear. No matter how small the Taliban becomes, it doesn't take many men to plan an attack. The Taliban will continue using psychological influence for the time being. When the Afghan population begins to feel less threatened, the Taliban will then use physical violence in order to scare them again.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the author of the article does give some information on NATOs future departure, I think the bias view of the Taliban is very obvious. In the very end of the article great emphasis was placed on how the Taliban is trying to reshape their image, for example, they are directing their violence under specific terms instead of targeting civilians and they are also trying to focus more on improving modern education. By talking about the Taliban in such a positive light, the author puts forth the message that the Taliban will be successful in taking over Afghanistan because of all the "improvements" they are trying to make for themselves and supposedly the people. If the author did not think that the Taliban would be successful in any way, then I do not think she would have written so much about how the Taliban is trying to be more open to the people. Moving on to the second question, I find it ironic how this article focuses so much on the Taliban’s improvements yet they are still trying to gain control mainly with violence. If they want to fix their image it will do them no good to use any violence. I think psychological influence would be more effective for them, especially if they really are trying to get on the good side of the people.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, there are a few statements that point toward the author's belief that the Taliban will regain control when the NATO forces are absent from the are, however, the author maintains a minimal level of bias on the issue. Regarding the question of whether the Taliban will use physical or psychological influences more in their quest to regain control, I believe that they will use psychological influences until the NATO forces leave the area, then I believe that they will change to more violent means of influence. The effort to revitalize their image is definitely seen as an improvement, but the Taliban is still an insurgent group trying to get their radical ideas put into place. The hope is that by putting more emphasis on education and less on killing civilians, they will not damage the people of Afghanistan as much.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, the author shows clear bias in the type of language uses and style in which he writes about the subject matter. He clearly thinks that the Taliban will be in control of Afghanistan shortly after the NATO forces withdraw. He does present relative facts to the matter but his stand is very clear on the situation. As far as the physical versus psychological aspect of the debate, I don't think that the Taliban have to choose. They are clearly at a state in which that can use either and until they are all abolished, it is not likely that they will stick to one or the other.
ReplyDeleteIn presenting the current situation, the author seems to lean more towards the idea that the Taliban will gain control once NATO forces leave. Although the Taliban cannot currently exert much physical violence, it can continue, and has done a good job at, exerting psychological force. The Taliban seems to put the people in situation which they feel they cannot get out of, even if the government promises its protection. The key is that the Taliban knows that the people do not trust the government, and uses that to its advantage. Additionally, the Taliban has changed its tactics, and is now constructing schools, offering education to both boys and girls, something that was not previously seen. This presents even more incentive to follow and support the Taliban's efforts. The Afghan government does not seem to have much control over the country at the moment. All that is left is to wait and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteThe Author does show somewhat of a bias towards the Taliban regaining some control over the Afgan people once the troops presence decreases. The Taliban is displaying more of a psychological warfare over the community while there is still a American troop presences.The Author does have some logical foundation for being fearful over wheather or not the Taliban will try to regain control.
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