Kailey Nordgran

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, also known as Afghanistan, is located in South Central Asia. The government of Afghanistan consists of the President, council of ministers, provincial governors and the national assembly. According to the 2004 constitution, “Afghanistan shall be an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary and indivisible state” (Olam). To fulfill this constitution, Afghanistan’s government has three branches comprising of the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches.

ISIS affiliates flourish in regions plagued by weak governance, porous borders, and inept security force (Intel Brief, 2019). Affiliates are geographically dispersed and vary in capability; some are akin to terrorist groups, while others behave like insurgent groups (Intel Brief, 2019).

The Islamic State’s use of social media has evolved over the past few years to attract more members. ISIS quickly built a brand on social media with tens of thousands of followers (DiResta, 2018). The organization’s strategic use of social media demonstrates the resourcefulness of the terrorist organization (Ward, 2018). Over time, ISIS maximized its reach through several social media platforms (Koerner, 2017). ISIS has been repeatedly the most adept terrorist group at using Internet and social media propaganda to recruit new members (Alfifi, Kaghazgaran, Morstatter). As ISIS continues to lose territory, they have adapted their use of social media to maintain power (Ward, 2018). Rather than calling followers to the front lines, ISIS’s social media strategy cultivates them at home in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia (Singer, Emerson, 2015). Social media has given terrorists the ability to directly come into contact with their target audience and either spread terror or recruit (Alfifi, Kaghazgaran, Morstatter).

In 2013, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIS began to study the West’s media so they could understand how best to mimic its methods of persuasion (Koerner, 2017). About a year later, in 2014, ISIS’s use of social media started, when they systematically leveraged technology and operated like a digital marketing team (DiResta, 2018). ISIS quickly built a brand on social media with tens of thousands of followers (How ISIS). Abu Musab al-Zarqawai, an ISIS leader, believed that they were “…in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our Umma [Muslim people]” (Koerner, 2017). The organization’s strategic use of social media demonstrates the resourcefulness of the terrorist organization, which recruited an estimated 40,000 foreign nationals from 110 countries (Ward, 2018).