South Asia News
NATO handicapped by its "stone age" media skills in Afghanistan
By DPA
Oct 8, 2007, 14:18 GMT

Brussels - NATO's media war in Afghanistan is handicapped by 'stone age' techniques and a lack of trained officers, the alliance's top official said Monday.

On the media front, 'we are fighting with one arm behind our back. When it comes to video, we are frankly in the stone age,' NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a seminar in Copenhagen on Monday.

'We are also barely on the field when it comes to the web. And on the military side, only five NATO allies have public affairs as a military function ... which means artillery officers are suddenly stuck in front of a microphone,' he added in a bleak assessment of the alliance's ability to turn the tide.

NATO ousted the then-ruling Taliban from Afghanistan in a United Nations-backed campaign in late 2001 and launched a series of reforms aimed at building up a viable Afghan democracy, army and police force.

But in recent years the Taliban have mounted a series of comeback raids, leading observers to conclude that the battle for Afghanistan is far from over.

And reports of NATO troops killing Afghan civilians have strained the alliance's reputation both in the war-torn country and internationally, with some member states reluctant to commit troops and resources to what is seen as an unpopular conflict for voters.

'When there is an incident in Afghanistan, the Taliban are quick to say there have been high numbers of civilian casualties. By the time we have sent a team to investigate, checked the results, and put them through the approval system, our response comes days later - if we are lucky,' de Hoop Scheffer lamented.

'By that time, we have totally lost the media battle,' he added.

To overcome the problem, NATO has to 'step up its game,' creating media units to cover video and web-based reporting and giving more publicity to NATO-filmed incidents, de Hoop Scheffer suggested.

'I have seen a video of a man walking in a crowd of women and children, carrying an AK-47, and just before firing on NATO troops, pulling a burkha over his head. That video is classified because it was filmed from a military platform. We need to declassify that video, show it to people so they know what is happening,' he said.

And the alliance has to react more quickly to events, perhaps creating 'rapid-reaction response teams for media operations, to hit back when falsehoods hit the press,' he added.

If that is not done, NATO could find its support slipping both in Afghanistan and in member states, de Hoop Scheffer said.

'This is our priority number one operation and it is a worthy cause. It must be sustained. And a critical part of making that happen is making the case, as long and as loud as necessary,' he concluded.