I love stories like this. I can just picture these guys all grouped together and listening to the radio, and planning their comebacks. They probably have guys in these groups who pull up the ‘yo momma’ jokes, or some crude reference to ‘relationships with camels’. lol
So my take on this, is why are we not helping these guys out with trash talk strategy? In the US, we have some outstanding trash talking comedians or athletes that could certainly advise the Afghan army. Think about it? A perfectly crafted comeback or slam, could easily infuriate the opposition to the point of doing something that would compromise their position or force them to do something stupid. I posted a similar story awhile back of US troops trash talking the Taliban in order to get them out for the fight. It worked, and if I were these Afghans, and the Coalition forces working with them, I would take advantage of that weakness to no end. Hell, get creative and infuriate them with the kind of trash talking that only Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson would be proud of . If the Taliban is that easily goaded, then by all means that weakness should be exploited. –Matt
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Trash Talking the Taliban During Firefights
By MIGUEL MARQUEZ
MARJA, Afghanistan, Feb. 25, 2010
It’s a remarkable combination of psychological warfare, political roundtable and trash-talking. Afghan soldiers and Taliban fighters taunt each other, debate each other and try to persuade each other almost daily over their radios, at times while even shooting at each other.
I came across the astonishing facet of the Afghan War while spending time with the 302nd kandak, or battalion, of the Afghan National Army. The foes chatter with each other over their Vietnam-era, two-way radio system. It’s such an antiquated system that the Taliban and the Afghan forces share radio frequencies, and verbal barbs, as they try to kill or capture one another.
I asked Maj. Said Rahim Hakmal what they talk about. Politics, he said. “The Taliban will say things like why do you side with the Americans? Why do you sell out your country? You love Obama more than Afghanistan.”
Hakmal said the standard response goes something like, “The Americans are here to help our country function again. They don’t want to stay. They want to help, then leave. You should help, too.”
Then the shooting starts.
To the Taliban, religion is politics and they are willing to die for their way of life. At least half the Afghan Army’s and its government’s job here is to sell the Talibs on the notion that they can have their religion, they just have to keep the politics separate. Easier said than done when it comes to fundamental beliefs about the nature of being and whom the almighty favors.
The Taliban and their politics aside, there are other questions Afghans have for America. While they do appear to trust that America has no interest in colonizing Afghanistan, they wonder about our true motives. Their No. 1 concern, maybe fear: Pakistan. They are desperate to know what America is really up to with their needed yet distrusted neighbor. Who does America support in Pakistan and why? Why doesn’t America, with all its power, just kill all the “terrorists” in Pakistan? For many Afghans, all their problems, and conspiracies, are rooted and imported from Pakistan.
Everybody Has an Opinion
Pro-government Afghans have a harder time wrestling with their beliefs than the Taliban. They have to simultaneously believe that the United States is good and questionable, maybe bad, for Afghanistan. Afghans are all for America when it comes to the surge, defeating the insurgency and building its government. They are less trustful when they look at U.S. actions outside Afghanistan.
It’s like Americans who love their congressmen but have few kind words for Congress.
Afghans want to know just about everything about America but they’ll settle for the American in front of them. The questions are non-stop. Where are you from? Who is your father? How big is your family? Do you have a wife? Children? What do you do for fun? What food do you like? Show me your pictures? Is that your phone? Signal? Can I call home?
When we’d go about our work shooting interviews or sending back material via a small satellite transceiver, the Afghans would gather around as though it were the day’s entertainment. They all want to be interviewed. They don’t really care about the questions. They have an opinion on just about everything and are always ready to share. That, too, reminds me of home.
Story here.
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Afghan Flag Raised Over Marja After Battling Taliban for 12 Days
Raising of the Afghan Flag Symbolizes a New Beginning in the Town of Marja
By ZOE MAGEE
Feb. 25, 2010
After 12 days of combat, U.S. commanders said today the worst of the fighting is over and as if to prove the point they watched as the new Afghan government raised its flag over the former Taliban stronghold of Marja for the first time in years.
U.S. military commanders were upbeat, bolstered by the high turnout in the center of town to watch the flag raising ceremony and the swearing-in of Abdul Zahir Aryan as the town’s new administrator.
“What you see here is Afghan government getting under way and the hard work really starts from today onwards,” Major Gen. Nick Carter said.
