As war rages across the countryside, young Afghans are plugging in their earphones and logging into audio-based app Clubhouse to argue with the Taliban and pitch counter-offensive tactics.
July 16,2021 As war rages across the countryside, young Afghans are plugging in their earphones and logging into audio-based app Clubhouse to argue with the Taliban and pitch counter-offensive tactics. Launched in the United States at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the platform acts as a giant conference call and first found popularity among American tech entrepreneurs as a forum for discussing start-ups and cryptocurrencies. In a conflict zone, it can have the rare power of connecting ordinary citizens with militants waging fear and destruction. „Some say the Taliban have changed, but I wanted to hear from them, in their own voice, if they really have,“ 22-year-old Sodaba of Kabul told AFP. With the withdrawal of foreign and NATO forces all but complete, the Taliban have waged a broad offensive, snapping up territory and stirring fears of a military takeover. Sodaba was particularly concerned about whether the Islamic fundamentalist group still held „their strict beliefs, especially on women“. „This is an interesting outlet that lets ordinary Afghans talk directly with the Taliban and government in real time,“ said Kabul-based political activist and author Fahim Kohdamani, who hosts political debates on the platform on a regular basis. „People are very worried about what comes next now that international troops are leaving Afghanistan.“ Afghans in the country’s urban centres have enjoyed a relative increase in social freedoms since the Taliban fell, but these gains are under threat as the militants advance on several provincial capitals.
