NATO And Taliban Engage In Harrowing Twitter Pissing Match

NATO and the Taliban have never really gotten along — a decade of collapsed state power vacuum insurgency warfare will do that. But can’t we count on Twitter as a bastion of civility? Apparently not! The battling pair’s bickering online.

Like two pissed off teens (fighting for the future of an entire society), the NATO and Taliban official Twitter accounts began sparring yesterday, quarrelling over civilian casualties. While I’m impressed by the Taliban rep’s use of English idioms, NATO’s mastery over the internet slap fight was clear: figures cited, videos pasted — it was a decisive bit of online warfare. Between this and responding to airstrike requests, NATO’s social media team has a pretty exciting job!

It may seem superficial, but being able to refute the Taliban’s claims in a public forum goes a long way towards weakening their clench on the country. Now if only more than a small fraction of Afghanistan had internet access. [Star and StripesThanks Rosa!]


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