US Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR) in Pakistan

History is rife with examples that only physically capturing terrirtory never results in lasting occupation unless it is accompanied by winning the hearts and minds of the populace residing in captured territories. Many famous leaders have successfully used it in the past to tame the general uprising against their occupation of the lands and territories.

Alexander the great is one famous example of the usage of psywar techniques in order to keep the new Macedonian states from revolting against him, Alexander the great would leave a number of his men behind in each city to introduce Greek culture, control it and oppress dissident views as well as interbreed. Since this method of persuasion did indeed influence loyalist and separatist opinions alike, it directly altered the psyches of the occupied people to conform.

In the modern times, US has been very successful in its Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR) against its enemies. In fact the modern day bible of PSYWAR is written by US Central Intelligence Agency in 1984 titled “Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas” or “Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare“. The ninety-page book of instructions focused mainly on how “Armed Propaganda Teams” could build political support within Nicaragua for the contra cause through deceit, intimidation, and violence. The CIA manual also discussed assassinations and their importance in waging PSYWAR.

The U.S. Department of Defense defines Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR) as:

“The planned use of propaganda and other psychological actions having the primary purpose of influencing the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to support the achievement of national objectives.”

Another broader definition states:

“Psychological warfare employs any weapon to influence the mind of the enemy. The weapons are psychological only in the effect they produce and not because of the weapons themselves.”

In these times of chaos and political instability, Pakistani population is vulnerable to PSYWAR. It is bombarded with various “messages” by different parties to the current conflicts raging in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan. Even the terrorists have their own dedicated teams for the PSYWAR. This statement is further reinforced by the recent BBC story titled “Pakistan Taliban Radio Insurgency”. According to the BBC story, there are approximately 150 illegal FM stations in NWFP and adjoining tribal areas of Pakistan. These radio stations have played a very effective role in the whole conflict. The terrorists operating in NWFP and adjoining tribal areas have acquired advance skills in PSYWAR and it is yet a mystery that the same terrorists who were previously oppose to TV and Radio are now effectively using it to augment their terrorist operations. Some of the terrorist have even gain the status of celebrity, thanks to their PSYWAR teams.

To counter them and to achieve its objectives as stated out in the earlier definition of PSYWAR, the US is working on its own strategy. The primary arm of US government that is responsible for executing the PSYWAR is the renowned Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Central Intelligence Agency aka CIA has a dedicated arm for this purpose. They actively hire American nationals as part of their core team. To augment their core team, local resources are temporarily hired to execute their plans and to achieve the stated objectives. To give ou readers a perspective and to ensure that my blog is just not words but well researched, i visited CIA site and i was lucky enough to find a current opening in the same department that runs the clandestine PSYWAR. Here is the link to the job opening. A screen shot is also given below.The job mentions that such persons are expected to work clandestinely in hostile overseas locations and must be bi-lingual or multilingual.

Pakistan is the front line state against the US War on Terror and is also the only Islamic country with nuclear power. Therefore, it is a country of special attention to the Americans and therefore to CIA and its operatives. Furthermore, Pakistan has also been used to train thousands of Jihadis in 1980’s against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The remnants of those groups are now haunting Americans themselves. In 1980’s, CIA raged a very successful PSYWAR through out the Muslim world to bring in individuals filled with Islamic zeal for Jihad to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan. These individuals were further trained by CIA PSYOPS in Pakistan through ISI. Those individuals were so well trained that they successfully defeated the Soviets in Afghanistan, the super power of that time. The Americans in general and the CIA in specific considered it a major success of their covert operations. The PSYWAR was won and hence tributes were paid to all the officers who took part in it.

After the 9/11 and the invasion of American forces in Afghanistan again brought the CIA and its PSYOPS to the region. However, this time they are on the opposite side as that of Russians and facing the enemy, which they themselves trained a decade back. The need for PSYWAR was felt and hence the CIA wing focused on the job started focusing on the region once again.

The mission and objectives for the current PSYWAR are very different when compared to the 80’s. The CIA PSYWAR objectives are never shared and hence we can only generalize them based on certain known policy decision. The Americans are ranging an all out War against the terrorism, which their media consider a snonym with Islamic terrorism. The real problem that the Americans are facing in Afghanistan is the tremendous local support that Taliban enjoys. No matter what the American media says, Talibans do have a grass root support in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The example of Swat in Pakistan is another example where the terrorists exploited the religion to implement their evil designs. However, they were initially successful to sell themselves to the masses based on religion. The primary objective of any PSYWAR is to eliminate that grassroot support for the enemy and to gain it for themselves. In Afghanistan, the Talibans have successfully turned the table on the Americans by effectively controlling the masses. However, the CIA bible for PSYWAR also preach some destructive and barbaric practices to successfully carryout any PSYWAR. The irony is that the good side has been copied by Afghan Talibans since they were trained for it by the CIA in 80’s. However, the Pakistani version of Talibans (as they have been named by PSYOPS) have opted to use the Armed Propaganda to achieve their objectives. The Armed Propaganda is a complete chapter in the CIA bible on PSYWAR. I will share some of the teachings of the bible with our readers so that they can understand how effectively it is employed in Pakistan by the terrorists and that compel us to wonder who trained them? or who is still training them?

According to CIA PSYWAR Bible:

“Destroy the military or police installations and remove the survivors to a “public place.”
Cut all the outside lines of communications: cables, radio, messengers.
Set up ambushes in order to delay the reinforcements in all the possible entry routes.
Kidnap all officials or agents of the government and replace them in “public Places” with military or civilian persons of trust to our movement; in addition, carry out the following:
Establish a public tribunal that depends on the guerrillas, and cover the town or city in order to gather the population for this event.
Shame, ridicule and humiliate the “personal symbols” of the government of repression in the presence of the people and foster popular participation through guerrillas within the multitude, shouting slogans and jeers.
Reduce the influence of individuals in tune with the regime, pointing out their weaknesses and taking them out of the town, without damaging them publicly.

The above techniques have been extensively used by the terrorists all across Pakistan. The attack on government installations and blowing up of schools and communications channels are widely known. Even the terrorists have set up their own courts as was witnessed in Swat. The civilians who raised their voice were publicly humiliated by digging their graves to take out their bodies and hang them from pole in the city squares. The influential people of the area are targeted with assassinations. Even the killing of Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the masses, can be termed part of such strategy. Benazir Bhutto has been replaced by her husband, who enjoys no support of the masses.

It is one of the primary objective of US government to eliminate the grass r0ot support for the Talibans and to achieve this goal, they have to malign the whole movement. Different heinous crimes are committed by the terrorists while using the name of Talibans or Jihad. The famous scholars have been assassinated and most of the political leadership has been wiped in NWFP and adjoining tribal areas. Once the local leadership has been eliminated, the CIA PSYOPS are now replacing them with their own trusted persons. According to a famous Pakistani journalist Ahmed Qureshi blog post, US is even hiring retired military officers beside journalists, politicians and bureaucrats. The strategy is well inline with the teachings of the PSYWAR bible. According to it:

“Established citizens … will be recruited initially as ‘Social Crusaders’ in typically ‘innocuous’ movements in the area of operations. When their ‘involvement’ with the clandestine organization is revealed to them, this supplies the psychological pressure to use them as ‘inside cadres’ in groups to which they already belong or of which they can be members.”

Not only this, even BlackWater is operating in Pakistan with the new name of Xe Worldwide. The Xe is led by a former CIA agent who has worked as PSYOPS. He also helps in executing the strategy through the front end organization. The US embassy in Islamabad is actively involved in silencing their critics as part of the PSYWAR. All the people exposing their evil designs have been silenced either through bribe or cooercions and the option of assasination is also on table as dictated by their PSYWAR bible. The recent incident in which American embassy used its influence to remove Dr. Shireen Mazari article critical of American activities in the region is an open example of it. The local media is used to cultivate chaos and confusion while selected paid journalists propagate the message of the CIA PSYOPS.

Few organization and groups have gone to the extent that they have started blaming CIA PSYOPS team for the recent spare of bombing in apparently civilian areas. The incident of twin suicide bombing in International Islamic University in Islamabad is also connected to the same episode. The purpose is to create wide spread hatred against Jihad.

The results of this PSYWAR are evident as increasing number of people are now tired of this new spate of violence and have started connecting to the Talibans and Jihad. The erstwhile zeal to donate the Zakat to the Islamic charities has been negatively affected and hence these organizations are facing a sharp decline in their main source of funding. Pakistani elite class, who feel pride in watching CNN and BBC, are now calling themselves secular and moderate without even pondering over the meaning and implications of it. They try to distance themselves from long beards and Hijab.

However, there is another side to the same story. The increased American activity in the region is also resulting in increased hatred against Americans as people consider them the mother of all evils and hence the main factor for the instability in the region. The independent media of Pakistan is like an unguided missile which is used by all the parties in the current conflict. Americans, Taliban, Government and terrorist all get equal coverage and hence a chance to present their point of view. Afghan Talibans have time and again distanced themselves from Pakistani terrorists using their name. The American are trying to connect both and their PSYWAR is intended to show them as one same devil but till date they have not been successful in their plans. The battle for the hearts and minds has been lost in Afghanistan and it is soon going to be lost in Pakistan. The Americans aid is countered by their arrogance. Their Democracy is countered by their dealings with the dictators.

In the end, the real battle is fought between the PSYOPS of both sides who are trained by the same master trainer i.e CIA. Only time will tell as to who is the real winner.