Last week, Taliban Acting Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and the
Prevention of Vice Sheikh Muhammad Khalid Hanafi bragged about his group’s “h


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Tech & Terrorism: Taliban Minister Brags About Historic Number Of Suicide
Attacks On Twitter

 

(New York, N.Y.) — Last week, Taliban Acting Minister for the Propagation of
Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Sheikh Muhammad Khalid Hanafibragged
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about his group’s “historic” number of suicide attacks in Afghanistan over the
past 20 years. Pro-Taliban accounts on Twitter widely shared the speech, during
which Hanafi also lamented the Taliban’s failure to achieve international
recognition. One such clip of the speech, shared by aTaliban spokesperson
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, has received more than 4,000 views. By allowing the Taliban to remain online,
social media platforms are giving the terrorist organization a platform to
spread its jihadist propaganda.

 

The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) has previously called
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for clear guidelines from tech companies to target the very “worst of the
worst” terrorist material. The Taliban––which is designated by the United
Nations for its support of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda––represents the “worst
of the worst” and must be removed from all tech platforms. CEP continues to
call on responsible Internet companies to deny access to the Taliban.

 

Taliban propaganda has included print magazines, pamphlets, and other printed
materials, as well as online and digital media––reportedly in an attempt to
compete with ISIS’s extensive online presence. The Taliban maintain a channel
on the encrypted messaging service Telegram, a Twitter account, and a website.
The group also developed its own Android app in 2016, although it was removed
from the Google Play store shortly after its launch.

 

Hanafi himself is a known senior member of the Haqqani network, a
U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The Haqqani network is a
militant Islamist group operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Though it is a
branch of the Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani network operates independently from
the Taliban and has a more diffuse command structure. The network has publicly
supported suicide bombers, as well as initiatives to compensate bombers'
families with money and land.

 

To read CEP’s Taliban resource, please click here
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To read CEP’s Haqqani Network resource, please click here
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