http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/14/taliban-nato-isaf-twitter/print

Taliban and Nato-led forces engage in war of words on Twitter

Taliban spokesman and Isaf press office have spat online as insurgents
attack Kabul's diplomatic and military enclave

    Haroon Siddique
    guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 September 2011 14.49 BST

As the 20-hour assault by Taliban insurgents on Kabul's diplomatic and
military enclave drew to a close on Wednesday, insurgents and
coalition forces decided to prolong the battle the modern way: on
Twitter.

If the continued insurgency in Afghanistan represents a failure of
dialogue, the spat between the Taliban and the press office of the
international security assistance force (Isaf) on Wednesday proved
that they are ready to exchange words directly, even if their comments
offered little hope of peace being forged anytime soon.

The argument began when @ISAFmedia, which generally provides dry
updates in military speak of the security situation in Afghanistan,
took exception to comments from a Taliban spokesman, tweeting: "Re:
Taliban spox on #Kabul attack: the outcome is inevitable. Question is
how much longer will terrorist put innocent Afghans in harm's way?"

The Taliban – who, when in power, eschewed most modern technology,
including television and music players – decided to point the finger
of blame back at the international forces for endangering Afghan
civilians. Showing an affinity with textspeak, Taliban tweeter
Abdulqahar Balk (@ABalkhi) wrote: "@ISAFmedia i dnt knw.u hve bn pttng
thm n 'harm's way' fr da pst 10 yrs.Razd whole vllgs n mrkts.n stil hv
da nrve to tlk bout 'harm's way'"

@ISAFmedia was moved to respond by providing statistical backing for
its case. "Really, @abalkhi? Unama reported 80% of civilians
causalities are caused by insurgent (your) activities
http://goo.gl/FylwU"

But @ABalkhi questioned the value of the quoted statistics, pointing
out in somewhat sarcastic tones that Isaf, an organisation established
by the UN security council, was using figures from another UN body
(the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan) to try to win the argument:
"@ISAFmedia Unama is an entity of whom? mine or yours?"

That brought to an end the direct exchanges for a while, although
@ABalkhi continued to try to score points, registering a "lol" at a
CNN article headlined "Pentagon: Afghan insurgency 'less effective'
this year".

@ISAFmedia later renewed hostilities, linking to a YouTube video of
the commander of Nato-led forces, General John Allen, checking on his
troops after the attacks on the US embassy and Isaf headquarters, and
asking: "Hey @alemarahweb, does your boss do this? http://goo.gl/9XpYn
#Kabulattacks #ISAF #COMISAF"

-- 
-Laye
==============================
"With fair speech thou might have thy will,
With it thou might thy self spoil."
--The R.M

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