Taliban shows off ‘special forces’ in propaganda blitz

PARIS: The Taliban has been displaying off its personal “particular forces” on social media, troopers in new uniforms geared up with looted American tools who distinction sharply with the picture of the standard Afghan rebel.
Photos and movies of fighters within the so-called “Badri 313” unit have been posted on-line for propaganda functions to underline how the Taliban have higher geared up and skilled males at their disposal than prior to now, consultants say.
The troopers are proven in uniforms, boots, balaclavas and physique armor just like these worn by particular forces around the globe — and in contrast to the shalwar kameez, turban and sandals of the standard Taliban fighter.
Somewhat than a battered Russian-designed Kalashnikov rifle slung over their shoulder, the boys of Badri 313 maintain new US-made rifles such because the M4, generally with night-vision goggles and superior gunsights.
Badri 313 “seemingly represents a number of the finest skilled and geared up fighters inside the Taliban extra broadly, though as you’d anticipate there’s a diploma of sensationalizing in propaganda protection of the unit by the group,” Matt Henman from the Janes protection consultancy stated.
A Western weapons professional who writes anonymously on Twitter underneath the pseudonym of Calibre Obscura stated the unit could be no match for Western particular forces, or these of India or Pakistan.
However “they’re simpler than regular Taliban and definitely greater than commonplace Afghan nationwide military troops from a few weeks in the past,” he stated.
Named after the battle of Badr 1,400 years in the past, when the Prophet Muhammad supposedly vanquished his enemies with solely 313 troopers, the Taliban unit may quantity as much as a number of thousand males, consultants say.
The quantity of apparatus at their disposal is unclear, however a number of footage on-line present jubilant Taliban fighters posing with captured armored Humvees, plane and weapons deserted by the defeated US-equipped Afghan nationwide military.
Consultants say probably the most refined tools, particularly the helicopters, shall be troublesome to function and near-impossible to keep up.
“There’s definitely a level of propaganda, however we noticed throughout the remaining offensive since Could that the Taliban particular forces have been crucial within the taking on of Afghanistan,” stated Invoice Roggio, managing editor of the US-based Lengthy Conflict Journal.
“Once they started to overrun the Afghan forces, they progressively built-in Western provides. The US in impact armed the Taliban military,” he added.
In earlier days, the unit has been answerable for safety exterior Kabul worldwide airport, bringing them almost face-to-face with American troops inside who’re overseeing the airlift of 1000’s of civilians.
In a social media submit, Badri 313 troops even mocked their US counterparts by recreating the famed image of American troopers elevating the Stars and Stripes on the island of Iwo Jima in 1945.
The Taliban figures in uniforms are seen elevating their black-and-white flag.
Badri 313 can also be seen as having benefited from coaching from the Haqqani community, Afghanistan’s most ruthless and feared militant group which has been liable for a number of suicide assaults on civilian targets.
Primarily based mostly in japanese Afghanistan — with alleged bases throughout the border in Pakistan’s northwest — the group has turn into extra seen within the Taliban management lately.
They’ve additionally lengthy been suspected of hyperlinks with the Pakistani navy institution — US Admiral Mike Mullen described them as a “veritable arm” of Islamabad’s intelligence in 2011.
Pakistan denies the allegations.
“There’s a sturdy probability of Pakistan having supplied at the least a vestige of coaching to the unit,” stated Henman from Janes, who makes a speciality of terrorism and insurgencies.
Gilles Dorronsoro, an professional on Afghanistan on the Sorbonne College in Paris, stated the emergence of the brand new Taliban commandoes was half of a bigger pattern.
“We’ve seen a outstanding professionalization of the Taliban because the center of the 2000s,” he stated.
“The battle they’re combating just isn’t the identical because the one their dad and mom fought towards the Soviets. They’ve discovered from the bottom and they’re superb technically,” he added.