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Propaganda Coup in Afghanistan

Taliban Sees Hostage Deal as Victory

By Matthias Gebauer

Following the release of an Italian journalist held hostage in exchange for five Taliban fighters, the Islamic extremists' propaganda machine has gone into full gear. The Taliban's Mullah Dadullah is using his success to ratchet up pressure on Hamid Karzai's government, while Western officials fear journalists are now fair game.

It didn't take long for Mullah Dadullah, the bloodthirsty Taliban commander, to get the propaganda machine spinning in full gear. After all, he had a Taliban victory on his hands. The hostage drama involving Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo had hardly come to an end when he picked up his satellite phone and called renowned Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai. During the conversation, the notorious commander was quick to depict Monday's hostage exchange as a victory for the Taliban, Yusufzai told SPIEGEL ONLINE, describing the call.

According to Dadullah's account, the Italian hostage was released on the edge of the Helmand River in the southern Afghan region of the same name, in exchange for five Taliban members, including two prominent spokespeople for the fighters and three well-known commanders. His statements match descriptions of the transfer provided by the Italian hostage. "A large number of our fighters drove to the location to greet their freed comrades," Dadullah said. "They fired their rocket-propelled grenades into the air and there was a huge celebration."

Dadullah's comments are likely to intensify the debate over the controversial exchange of five incarcerated Taliban fighters for the Italian reporter negotiated between the Italians and the Taliban. Referring to his brother, who was also released, Dadullah characterized his success in the negotiations as a personal victory. He went on to describe the release of the fighters as an "important victory for the Taliban," noting that the two former spokesmen were "politically very significant." The three other fighters, he said, would be immediately deployed in southern Afghanistan.

His statements seemed to confirm the fears of Western governments. Almost as quickly as the deal had been struck with the Taliban, Britain, the United States and Germany sharply criticized the release of the fighters and capitulation to the hostage-takers as the wrong message to be sending. In Germany, government officials are concerned that the Taliban's success will provide even greater incentive for the guerrillas, led by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, to continue kidnapping foreigners. Tthe US also expressed irritation that it was not informed of the deal in advance.

Mullah Dadullah has taken considerable pleasure in publicizing the details of the negotiations. Although his account could not be independently corroborated, its main objective appears to be the mullah's own self-promotion. "We rejected an offer by Italian diplomats to pay $1 million," the Taliban commander said. He also claimed to have told the diplomats that not even $10 million would have been enough. Instead, he claims to have stuck firm to his insistence that Taliban fighters be released. The idea, he seemed to be conveying is that Taliban fighters cannot be bought.

Political trouble for Karzai

Dadullah's statements could also prove to be politically explosive for the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Dadullah claims that the Afghan government has not made a single effort to try to obtain the release of Mastrogiacomo's interpreter, who is still being held by the Taliban. "The Afghan government was only interested in the Italian," he claims. But in his conversation with Yusufzai, Dadullah said he would consider freeing the man in exchange for incarcerated Taliban member Mohammed Hanif. Hanif, a former Taliban spokesman, is being held in a Kabul jail.

The statements about the Afghan interpreter could provoke further protests against the Karzai government. Just after Mastrogiacomo's release on Monday after being held for two weeks by the Taliban, hundreds of members of his interpreter's family held a protest in the provincial capital of Helmand. Dadullah's comments may now merely serve to confirm their fear that the only thing the Afghan government cared about was securing the reporter's release, and not his interpreter's. One thing is certain: Whether it is true or not, Dadullah's words will quickly be taken as the truth in many parts of Afghanistan.

Dadullah also ominously alluded that further Western journalists will be kidnapped. Any reporter conducting research without the Taliban's permission in the southern part of the country, he warned, would be "arrested." With his statements, Dadullah has lent additional credence to a painful reality for the international security forces present in Afghanistan: In many areas, and especially in Helmand, they have lost control to the Taliban.