“Social Media and Articulation of Radical Narratives in Afghanistan”
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AISS released the third of a series of research papers dedicated to examining the trends in radicalization across the various sectors throughout Afghanistan. This research paper explores the role of social media as a medium of articulation of religiously-inspired radical ideologies and narratives in Afghanistan. The study is qualitative in its approach and uses the following methods: 1) Monitoring and analysis of online contents of official social media profiles of religiously inspired militant groups as well as peaceful activist groups. This analysis is aimed to identify the main narratives and ideological trends that are spread by various Islamic activists and militant groups, and individuals. 2) Outline and analysis of a selected number of Taliban hymns used as mobile phone ringtones by the general public. These ringtones are analyzed as a form of social media with a previously unexplored potential role in radicalization. 3) Seventy-two semi-structured interviews with active social media users from the four cities – Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat and Mazar-e Sharif of Afghanistan. These interviews complement the analysis of online contents by providing detailed and geographically specific understanding of the way social media users approach and experience online extremist contents.