Taliban Communications Archive

This archive consists of communication and recruitment materials issued by the Pakistani Taliban. It contains recruitment videos, leaflets and night letters (shabnamen), jihadi anthems (taranay), and press releases to local media. Most of the materials are issued in Urdu (a few in Pashto) and distributed in the Tribal Areas and the Khyber Paktunkwa Province (KPP) of Pakistan. The archive consists of data collected from 2007 and onwards (mostly up to 2011). 2007 was the year when the Pakistani Taliban was formally established under the umbrella of Tehrike Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

The public communications of the Pakistani Taliban are primarily aimed at a local audience. Some, however, are aimed at a larger, transnational Muslim audience and others at adherents of the Taliban and affiliated movements. The audio and video recordings are largely intended as recruitment tools. Some are available on the Internet, but most of the material is distributed locally in the KPP and the Tribal Areas. The videos include statements made by prospective martyrs before carrying out suicide operations. They also include statements elaborating on the aims and enemies of various Taliban factions (often accompanied by pictures of beheadings of spies or war scenes). The videos also contain jihadi anthems. The anthems are emotional, martial, and nationalistic songs, often glorifying battle and the fighters. They are meant to be emotionally moving and to provide legitimacy for a violent course of action. Taliban-affiliated groups also distribute flyers, pamphlets, and handouts, including so-called shabnamen or night letters. The shabnamen are a traditional means of communication in the tribal areas: they are unsigned letters distributed clandestinely overnight, often containing handwritten warnings or messages to a particular population.

The material is not available online but can be accessed at the DIIS library. Apart from books and pamphlets there are a number of CD/DVDs. The library does not have audio visual equipment for playback. The materials cannot be borrowed home.

All materials are registered and described in the DIIS Library database and can be seen here