Afghanistan's Propaganda War

After the recent series of 'PR disasters', are the Americans losing their battle for hearts and minds in Afghanistan?

For years the US army has been talking about winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan but it appears to be fighting a losing battle. On March 11, one US soldier went on a shooting rampage claiming the lives of 16 Afghan civilians – nine of them children. It was just the latest in a series of PR disasters for the coalition. Last month a group of US soldiers caused outrage in the country when they accidentally – or so they say - burnt the Holy Quran. Before that, video surfaced of coalition snipers urinating on the dead bodies of alleged Taliban fighters. While the Obama administration shifted back into damage control mode, the story was also picked up by the now vibrant Afghani media landscape whose various media outlets, including the Taliban's media machine, all had a different tale to tell.