BF2S Forums Shady New Terror Group Known As "Interpol" Operating Within The US!

FEOS wrote:

Braddock wrote:

This is the poll I was talking about.

I know corruption is a huge issue in that country and I'm not saying it doesn't swing both ways. Karzai is most likely not alone in his corruption, but given that the US has held him up as the de facto poster boy of post-Taliban democracy his allegations (which were made by several world leaders and monitoring bodies) make the entire war seem like a bit of a Pyrrhic victory.

As for the allegation that the Taliban carried out a huge voter drive in favour of Karzai? Well, I guess anything is possible but my bet would be that they'd sooner just intimidate people into not voting.

Karzai is hardly being held up as the "poster boy" of anything. He's simply the first democratically-elected president of post-Taliban Afghanistan. The first of many, God willing. If you'll remember, the US was one of those countries that expressed concerns about the Afghan elections along with everyone else. And we (along with many others) continue to closely monitor what is happening there. Karzai fully realizes he's not getting a free pass here and that every move is being scrutinized both internally and externally.

The Taliban aren't stupid when it comes to influence operations. They're quite good at it, actually. It simply makes sense. Think about it for half a second: they've been intimidating people not to vote wherever they can, then in provinces where they are strongest, Karzai suddenly gets 100% of the vote at the ballot box. The Taliban effectively control who works, enters, or leaves the polling station...so who controls who stuffs the ballot box and with what? The Taliban. What was the effect of the ludicrous, obvious ballot-rigging? Negative for the central government and thus positive for the Taliban. Influence operations 101, tbh.

FEOS wrote:

Braddock wrote:

FEOS wrote:

Karzai is hardly being held up as the "poster boy" of anything. He's simply the first democratically-elected president of post-Taliban Afghanistan. The first of many, God willing. If you'll remember, the US was one of those countries that expressed concerns about the Afghan elections along with everyone else. And we (along with many others) continue to closely monitor what is happening there. Karzai fully realizes he's not getting a free pass here and that every move is being scrutinized both internally and externally.

The Taliban aren't stupid when it comes to influence operations. They're quite good at it, actually. It simply makes sense. Think about it for half a second: they've been intimidating people not to vote wherever they can, then in provinces where they are strongest, Karzai suddenly gets 100% of the vote at the ballot box. The Taliban effectively control who works, enters, or leaves the polling station...so who controls who stuffs the ballot box and with what? The Taliban. What was the effect of the ludicrous, obvious ballot-rigging? Negative for the central government and thus positive for the Taliban. Influence operations 101, tbh.

Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic theory... but almost completely unverifiable. It also serves as a great smokescreen for what might just have been genuinely corrupt attempts by Karzai supporters to rig the ballot boxes.

Not a smokescreen at all. I would call that view second-order effects and I would exploit the skepticism. See what has happened to you? Instead of thinking for even a second that the real bad guys in Afghanistan (the Taliban) might actually be doing something bad, you automatically think there's no way it's them, it must be Karzai because he's so corrupt.

Like I said. They're very good at what they do.