The hardline Islamists who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to2001 and forbade the use of the Internet, deeming it a Western propaganda tool,now regularly use Twitter to promote their ideas and boast about attacks onNATO forces.
The militants are reluctant to discuss the thinking behindtheir Internet U-turn, but last year's Arab Spring was a wake-up call to theMuslim world about the ability of social media to organise mass movements andcommunicate a message outside traditional channels.
"The leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistanregards social media, in particular Facebook, as a useful way to communicateand pass messages of the Islamic Emirate to Afghans as well asforeigners," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The role of social media in the Arab Spring convinced oneseasoned Afghan figure, Abdul Rashid Dostum - a former warlord who now has anofficial Facebook and Twitter account -- said his aide, Homayoon Haqbeen.
Homayoon said Dostum wants to get his message out to young,energetic and educated Afghan youths as well as to a Western audience.
"Nowadays you see that almost all the activepoliticians and many Afghans interested in politics are on Facebook orTwitter," he said.
Like the Taliban, Dostum knows that he can use thetraditional channels of local elders and mullahs to address and mobilise poorand illiterate Afghans who make up most of the population in rural areas.
A group called "Young Women For Change" recentlyopened Afghanistan's first women-only net cafe in Kabul, named after SaharGul, a 15-year-old child bride who was tortured and jailed by her husband.
While there are many Internet cafes in the Afghan capital,the group says women do not use them because they face male harassment.
"In addition to providing Internet access to women, weregularly hold training sessions for girls to teach them the importance of socialmedia and how to use it in order to raise awareness about their rights,"said Sahar Gul's Netcafe manager Tooba Ahmadyar.
"If the Arabs managed to use Internet to mobilizeagainst dictators, we can use it to form a strong front of educated Afghan men andwomen to stand against the oppression and defend our rights", she said.
