On Friday, February 10, 2023, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) in partnership with the Conflict and Civil Society Research Unit of the LSE held an in-person roundtable discussion on Taliban’s Online Strategy.

The Taliban’s victory was facilitated by many factors, including Taliban’s masterful utilisation of modern social media platforms. The Taliban did not “out-fight” their formidable military foes, but they outsmarted them; as they did not win any major military battles prior to July 2021. Alongside suicide attacks and IED bombings, social media platforms and smartphones became Taliban’s main “weapons”. While the Afghan government and its Western/NATO partners developed strategies to tackle the former threats and conventional/terrorist weapons, they failed to develop corresponding understanding and ensuing responses to the Taliban virtual threats.