Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Pashtun hard-core rap: A report on the messages carried in Taliban chants

While Tom Ricks is away from his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on March 9, 2011. There’s an interesting article on Taliban chants in the new issue of Small Wars and Insurgenciesby Thomas Johnson and Ahmed Waheed ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
MOHAMMAD BASHIR/AFP/Getty Images
MOHAMMAD BASHIR/AFP/Getty Images
MOHAMMAD BASHIR/AFP/Getty Images

While Tom Ricks is away from his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on March 9, 2011.

While Tom Ricks is away from his blog, he has selected a few of his favorite posts to re-run. We will be posting a few every day until he returns. This originally ran on March 9, 2011.

There’s an interesting article on Taliban chants in the new issue of Small Wars and Insurgenciesby Thomas Johnson and Ahmed Waheed of the Naval Postgraduate School. It’s kind of Pashtun rap. Some have even been posted on the YouTube, they say.

One, which reminds me of Peter Tosh’s old Downpressor, kicks off this way:

Oh Western dragon! Where will you go when we shut all the ways? 
Oh Western dragon! Where will you go when we shut all the ways? 
Oh Western dragon! You have an opportunity to run away now. 
Hurry and get out of Kabul so that you don’t regret when you are captured.

There’s also some surprising content: In this one, which I take as a response to American counterinsurgency efforts, the Taliban also take on fire worshippers.

The enemies have come in the shape of friends. They look like human beings but they are wild animals. The act of disuniting people stays in their blood and their messages are look like flowers but they are full of poison. They have come under the banner of the friends but they are murderers.

The enemies have come in the shape of friends. They look like human beings 
but they are wild animals. I have always made the destiny of this country. I 
have brought happiness and beauty to my country. They have come under the 
name of sympathy but they are muggers. They have come under the name of 
sympathy but they are muggers.

The enemies have come in a shape of friends. They look like human beings but 
they are wild animals. They are Jewish but half of them are idolaters. They are 
fire worshippers who came from East and West.

When we have intelligence officers who routinely listen to this sort of thing, we will actually be able to operate in Afghanistan with effectiveness.

 

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.