As America moves closer to military action against Afghanistan in its war against terrorism, the Internet is providing unprecedented access to news and information from supporters of the ruling Taliban government and other groups linked to longtime foes of the U.S.
It is not a comforting view.
But a network of websites around Afghanistan and in pro-Taliban nations offers everyday citizens an unparalleled perspective and understanding of just how high the stakes of the looming conflict will be for the U.S. and its allies.
In Afghanistan itself, the Internet has been unplugged since July when the Taliban officially banned all Internet use in an effort to control things that are “”wrong, obscene, immoral, and against Islam” from coming into the country.
But to understand the group and its threatened jihad, or holy war, against the United States, one place to start is the Jihad Web Ring (www.ummah.net.pk/jihadring.htm), a collection of 55 websites devoted to covering current jihad movements in Chechnya, Kashmir, Palestine, Indonesia, and other places where Muslims are involved in conflict.
Many of the sites have only been sporadically available in the last couple of days because of a wave of hacking attacks the FBI suspects is being coordinated by a coalition of vigilante hackers seeking revenge on sites considered anti-American.
Most are of the hacked sites are only temporarily offline. The are usually repaired and eventually go back online.
The moderate Afghan Network (www.afghan-network.net) is based in Canada and has been the most stable of the sites covering Afghanistan. Opposed to the terror attacks and the policies of the Taliban, it offers news, pictures, and, of particular use, a series of detailed maps of Afghanistan showing major roads, provinces, and ethnic group populations.
Websites from neighboring Pakistan are providing close-to-the-action news. The Frontier Post (frontierpost.com.pk) had a story Tuesday on Taliban officials fleeing the Afghanistan capital of Kabul in expectation of American attacks.
The Nation (http://www.nation.com.pk/) reported a story I haven’t seen in the U.S. media– the closing of the main airport in Islamabad on Thursday and Friday during which 50 U.S. security and special operations commandos landed.
“The Americans are involved in advance liaison work and the selection of Pakistani officers to work with them in preparation for possible military operations,” said the paper, and “are also carrying out research, notably on the feasibility of getting troops into Afghanistan.”
A website called HiPakistan.com (www.hipakistan.com) has been covering the strong and growing protests in Pakistan over the U.S.’s requests for cooperation. “The U.S. is a fickle ally whose history with Pakistan is littered with betrayals, sanctions, and whimsy,” editorialized the newspaper.
In Iran, the talk of war by the U.S. was also condemned. The Islamic Republic News Agency website (www.irna.com) gave major play to Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, warning that any U.S. military action against Afghanistan would be “catastrophic” and a “massacre” of innocent people.
In Iraq, the Iraqi News Agency site (www.uruklink.net/iraqnews/eindex.htm) ran a rambling, poorly-translated “open letter from Saddam Hussein to the peoples of the United States” in which the he accused the Bush administration of using the attack as an excuse to pursue war against all “Arabs and Moslems” under pressure by “Zionist thought and scheming.”
Hussein’s letter also suggested last week’s attacks in New York and Washington may have been done by U.S. citizens unhappy with government instead of foreign terrorists.
Another resource for news from non-U.S. perspectives is the huge collection of online newspapers from all over the world, arranged by country on the Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org/reading/news) site.
Contact MIKE WENDLAND at mwendland@freepress.com or 313-222-8861.
