Taliban hopes for Western propaganda

The Qatarian television network Al-Jazeera’s monopoly for the air seems to be coming to an end. The Taliban has allowed two BBC workers to arrive in Kabul. This has taken place for the first time since the expulsion by the Taliban all foreign correspondents from the country. Such a move on the part of the Taliban may have been caused the its dissatisfaction with how the Qatarian network have been depicting the events. The network has failed, in the Taliban’s view, its propaganda mouthpiece in its fight against “the infidels.” Several weeks ago, the Taliban organized a show trip for a group of foreign correspondents to the Kandagar region, so that those correspondents could see for themselves the devastation caused by US bombings. Kathy Gannon, Associated Press’s Islamabad bureau chief, is working there. She is the only Western journalist entitled to cover events on Taliban-controlled territory of Afghanistan. Seizure of Mazar-i-Sharif has virtually cleared the way for the Northern Alliance’s troops directly to Kabul, and the Taliban cannot but take in into account. The Taliban also is not happy about yesterday’s statement by one of Pashto tribes’ leaders of their support for the anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan. The Taliban is now in urgent need for support from the international community, not only from the Arab world. Masterly shot film footages of mass casualties among civilians after carpet bombings are design to melt people’s hearts. Mass demonstrations protesting against the bombing of Afghanistan in many countries are also supposed to take the desired effect. Ultimately, the Taliban is interested in convening an international conference on Afghanistan under UN aegis, where the Taliban’s stance would be advocated by Moslem countries. It also cannot be ruled out that some in the Taliban leadership, having realized the futility of further fighting, may be trying to show their inclination towards America.

Dmitri Litvinovich PRAVDA.Ru Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2001/11/10/33655.html