US military faces backlash for offensive propaganda leaflet in Afghanistan.

The propaganda leaflet. LA Times. 

The US military is facing backlash in Afghanistan after releasing a propaganda leaflet that is offensive to Muslims. LA Times. The leaflet depicts a lion chasing after a dog with the motto of the Taliban on it, which was taken from their flag. Unfortunately, their motto is the Shahada, the Islamic declaration of fate, which states "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet". To have that placed on a dog, which is considered unclean in Islam, is highly insulting. The backlash was immediate as a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up at the gates of a US base, injuring four civilians. 

My Comment:

Someone screwed up here and screwed up badly, to the point where I wonder if this wasn't deliberate. The basic idea makes sense. They are trying to imply that the anti-Taliban forces are tough and predatory while the Taliban are week and small as the dog in the picture. I also think that they knew that comparing the Taliban to a dog would be offensive to them for religious reasons as well. As an insult to the Taliban it's effective.

What I don't know is if they intended to offend other Muslims as well. It should have been obvious to someone that printing the Shahada on a dog would be highly offensive to Muslims. One of the things that even casual observers of Islam know is that they consider dogs to be unclean. I find it hard to believe that nobody involved in this understood that this was a bad idea. 

Of course, I don't condone the reaction to the leaflet. I have long had a problem with the Iconoclasm in Islam that has zero tolerance for criticism, satire and, yes, even insulting their religion. I believe in free speech and I will always be opposed to those who would silence people just for having a different opinion. 

That being said, that doesn't mean there isn't good reason to criticize this leaflet. This wasn't some artist making a political statement, it was an attempt to change people's minds. As propaganda this leaflet was obviously completely against purposes. 

The purpose of this was to convince people to not join the Taliban. By posting the Shahada on a dog they aren't going to convince anyone of anything. Instead they might even drive recruitment  for the Taliban or other terrorist groups. This is about as bad as propaganda gets and was a huge mistake by the coalition in Afghanistan. 

Again, I wonder if this wasn't deliberate. It's very possible that someone for their own reasons wanted to do something offensive on purpose. Why, I am not sure. Maybe they just don't like Muslims. Maybe they just wanted to troll. But I find it hard to believe that someone could make a mistake of this magnitude. Everyone who works in the military should know that Muslims are highly offended by dogs and that putting the Shahada on one would not be effective propaganda. If it was deliberate than whoever was responsible should be disciplined. 

Even if we hadn't made this mistake, I don't know how much propaganda can accomplish in Afghanistan anyways. We have been there since 2001 and we still don't seem to understand the people there. They are driven by tribal loyalty and are unlikely to be convinced by a leaflet drop.