WASHINGTON \u2014 A recent Taliban propaganda video uploaded to the group\u2019s official media site appears to show Taliban fighters mimicking the style and tactics of American commandos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The video, titled \u201cCaravan of Heroes 13,\u201d was posted to the group\u2019s propaganda outlet called Voice of Jihad on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 70-minute-plus video covers various Taliban tactics from assaults and ambushes, to emplacing roadside bombs.<\/p>\n\n\n However, the first 10 minutes of the video features shots of Taliban fighters brandishing American weapons, optics and tactical apparel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not typical for Taliban propaganda videos, which often display the infamous Taliban black and white turbans and fighters with long beards brandishing Russian weapons and machine guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Taliban want to show their supporters and potential recruits that they are a professional force capable of defeating the Afghan government and the coalition,\u201d said Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the editor of FDD\u2019s Long War Journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Taliban has touted its \u201cspecial forces\u201d in the past, in previous videos, however this video definitely kicks it up a notch,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In one photo, several Taliban fighters appear to be conducting a patrol. One of the fighters is carrying a tactical medical bag, surgical scissors, tactical apparel and helmet. Some of the fighters have drop holsters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, the tactical camouflage uniforms feature bloused trousers, brown boots and even unit patches on the sleeves, similar to today\u2019s Western military and Afghan special forces units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The video is designed to appeal to two audiences \u2014 potential Western recruits and local Afghans and Pakistanis, according to Roggio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was produced in English and Pashtu by Manba al Jihad Studio \u2014 a media arm of the Haqqani network, Roggio said. The Haqqanis are an internationally designated terrorist group with close ties to the Taliban and al-Qaida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Haqqanis have made open calls for foreign recruits to join the ranks,\u201d Roggio said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The video provides an interesting look into the inner workings of the Taliban and its propaganda efforts. In previous videos, the Taliban has attempted to mimic Islamic State propaganda by filming attacks with commercially available quadcopter drones. But this video seems to take things to a whole new level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have not seen the Islamic State issue propaganda like this,\u201d said Roggio. \u201cThe Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan has issued videos similar to this, but not to the degree we\u2019ve seen in \u2018Caravan of Heroes 13,\u2019 \u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A recent Taliban propaganda video uploaded to the group\u2019s official media site appears to show Taliban fighters mimicking the style and tactics of American commandos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":95189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-video","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,12,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3399],"class_list":["post-57488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","post_format-post-format-video"],"acf":{"subheadline":"A recent Taliban propaganda video uploaded to the group\u2019s official media site appears to show Taliban fighters mimicking the style and tactics of American commandos.","legacy_arc_id":"3DVOIKILHRDRRLZO3QEXOX5U2Y","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/09\/01\/taliban-mimic-american-commandos-in-latest-propaganda-video\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n