\n\n\nAs\n shots of desperate refugees clinging to planes circulated, one of the \nbest-known pro-Taliban influencers, Qari Saeed Khosty, struck a tone of \ndoleful sympathy.
\u201cI\n cried hard to see your situation. You, the friends of the occupation, \nwe have similarly cried for you for 20 years. We told you that Tommy \nGhani will never be loyal to you,\u201d he wrote in a Twitter post, using \nslang for a person who adopts Western styles and customs to refer to \nAshraf Ghani, the Afghan president who fled this week. \u201cWe have forgiven\n you, I swear to Allah. We are not for this situation. Please come back \nto your homes.\u201d
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Fast and clever messaging was a key part \nof the offensive, he said, pointing out that the Taliban trained and \nequipped soldiers with microphones and smartphones to report from the \nfront lines as their forces swept into new territory. The messaging, a \nmix of amnesty offers and intimidation that was designed to create the \nsense of an inevitable victory, may have helped hasten a process of coercion and persuasion that led to many of the best-defended cities falling without fighting.
\u201cSmartphones\n have been a very successful Taliban weapon,\u201d said Abdul Sayed, an \nindependent researcher who focuses on the group\u2019s social media tactics. \n\u201cThey all have a special love for smartphones now.\u201d
Taliban tiktok
Are Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally still remembered these days?
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