Taliban Narratives

The Use and Power of Stories in the Afghanistan Conflict

Johnson Thomas H.

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Why has the Taliban been so much more effective in presenting messages that resonate with the Afghan population than the United States, the Afghan government and their allies? This book, based on years of field research and the assessment of hundreds of original source materials, examines the information operations and related narratives of Afghan insurgents, especially the Afghan Taliban, and investigates how the Taliban has won the information war.

Taliban messaging, wrapped in the narrative of jihad, is both to the point and in tune with its target audiences. On the other hand, the United States and its Kabul allies committed a basic messaging blunder, failing to present narratives that spoke to or, often, were even understood by their target audiences. Thomas Johnson systematically explains why the United States lost this 'battle of the story' in Afghanistan, and argues that this defeat may have cost the US the entire war, despite its conventional and technological superiority.

About the Author

Thomas H. Johnson is Research Professor and Director of the Program for Culture & Conflict Studies at the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is also director of the Program for Culture and Conflict Studies, which coordinates anthropological research on Central and South Asia. From 2002-2009, he served as a US representative to a number of NATO committees involved with WMD and CBRN.

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