by Bob Boynton
Aljazeera English had a report from the Taliban side of the line, and BBC World had breaking news about a planned British movement of more soldiers into the contested province. It was both sides of the line by duet.
News organizations that aspire to a global audience — as do Aljazeera English, BBC World, and CNN World — feel constrained to present both sides of a conflict. After all, they want to maximize their audience. At least they do not want to run off audience by presenting only a onesided story.
The first burst of this story was February 22 — though I only did the writing on the 25th. The second burst is March the 6th. It is a second opportunity to see how both sides of the line plays out in this conflict. Since this seems to be a big push there may be more opportunities in the future.
This time all three of the news organizations had a story about the British moving troops into the Helmand province to take on the Taliban. CNN World had been missing the first time around.
There is a good deal more to the stories than I am going to report because I want to focus on the single theme — both sides of the line. So I will quote the stories as they do that.
Aljazeera English
At its peak, the offensive will involve more than 4,500 Nato troops and close to 1,000 Afghan security force personnel.
“This is the largest operation launched to date and it signifies the beginning of an offensive to bring security to Helmand,” said Ton van Loon, Isaf commander in the south.
Local Taliban leaders were defiant in response to the operation.
Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman in Helmand, told Al Jazeera: “We don’t care about this operation. What it means is Nato is going to bomb more innocent civilians.
“We have 10,000 fighters waiting to meet them. We will defend and fight and inshallah [God willing] we will win.”
The commander of the International Security Assistance Force was quoted as was a spokesman for the Taliban. Both are able to tell their side of the story.
BBC World had this statement from the commander of ISAF south
“This is the largest multinational combined ANSF [Afghan National Security Force] and Isaf [International Security Assistance Force] operation launched to date and it signifies the beginning of a planned offensive to bring security to northern Helmand,” the head of the alliance’s southern command, Dutch Major General Ton van Loon, had said earlier.
It would focus on “improving security in areas where Taleban extremists, narco-traffickers and other elements are trying to destabilise the government of Afghanistan”, his statement said.
BBC World did not have a comparable statement from the Taleban.
This is the CNN World version of both sides of the line
“This operation is targeting Taliban extremists, narco-traffickers and foreigner terrorists who have abused you, the Afghan people,” Maj. Gen. Toon Van Loon, NATO’s southern regional commander, said in a statement.
“Though Operation Achilles will initially focus on improving security conditions, its overarching purpose is to assist the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan improve its ability to begin reconstruction and economic development in the area.”
In a recent interview, Mullah Dadullah, the man in charge of day-to-day military operations for the Taliban, said his forces were poised for a new offensive against NATO-led coalition troops.
CNN World had the statement of the commander of ISAF and a “recent interview” with the Taleban in charge of day to day military operations. They do not say who did the interview; they do not claim it as their own but it may have been theirs.
Interpretation
Aljazeera English managed both sides of the line better than did the other two news organizations. CNN World managed an earlier interview with a Taliban spokesman. But BBC World had only the statement of the ISAF commander.
There is one more element in this and other comparable situations. Aljazeera English reported.
Separately on Tuesday, the Taliban said it had “arrested” a Briton working for an Italian newspaper.
The group said Danny Kell was a British military spy working for the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.
Apparently the Taliban does not trust all reporters — thinking some of them may be spies. You cannot report if they will not let you in.
The Taliban are hardly the first military organization to distrust reporters. Mr. Rumsfeld for example, was infamous for his view that the reporters were telling only the story of the other side of the line.
News Reports
