Category Archives: afghanistan

Afghanistan: “Build it and they will come?”

Posted on February 8, 2010 by admin

Of the main outcomes to emerge from the London Conference, helping reintegrate Taliban fighters via support for a Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund and negotiations with the Taliban have taken centre stage. As the conference communiqué put it, there is … Continue reading →

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Hard of Hearing: The UK Media and Afghanistan

Posted on September 30, 2009 by admin

The media space as a theatre of strategic communications over Afghanistan has been losing its efficacy. Sending the right message from Afghanistan – one which will be heard by an increasingly one-dimensional media – has become a daunting task. In … Continue reading →

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Editing Afghanistan: An increasingly dissonant message

Posted on August 25, 2009 by admin

In response to the ever-increasing groundswell of voices in the media questioning the continuing wisdom behind the British role in Afghanistan, General Sir Richard Dannatt said on the BBC flagship Nine O’Clock news programme last week:  “There are those out … Continue reading →

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“It’s the economy (and social development) stupid”:the need for a new narrative in Afg.

Posted on July 7, 2009 by admin

  There is a pressing need to start telling a different story in Afghanistan – one which focuses on the civilian, rather than the military campaign, and one which highlights the good work undertaken by the Afghan government in promoting … Continue reading →

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The changing theatre of Strategic Communications

Posted on July 1, 2009 by admin

The Albany Associates London conference on strategic communications noted some success in its practice in the 1990s, but a catalogue of failures in the 21st century. Why has the wisdom gleaned from the former not informed the latter? The practice … Continue reading →

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Message Creep in Afghanistan

Posted on July 1, 2009 by admin

Following the two day Albany Associates conference on strategic communications held in London recently, one thing stands out. Given the accumulated wisdom of the past few decades in the broad field of strategic communications, why are there still such problems … Continue reading →

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Strategic Comms Conference: New Media

Posted on June 25, 2009 by admin

Here in the bunker – it is a rather swish conference room but there’s a serious shortage of natural light – we’ve been looking at new media and strategic communications. Three themes from the new media panel and this morning’s … Continue reading →

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Afghan Journalists Boycott World Press Freedom Day

Posted on May 19, 2009 by admin

Of all the groups to turn their back on this year’s World Press Freedom day in Afghanistan, few would have put their money on the Afghan journalists themselves. Neither of the two main independent journalists associations – the Afghan National Journalists … Continue reading →

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Talking to the Taliban

Posted on April 1, 2009 by admin

Obama’s Afghanistan strategy review is the West’s last chance to get it right in that troubled country, but will it work? His emphasis on governance and development is the right one – although heaven knows we have heard the rhetoric … Continue reading →

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