Afghanistan and gray propaganda

One Corps Mangla conducted a short course in One Corps Mangla in the late 1970s, detailing major rank officers from the divisions and independent brigades attached to the Mangla Corps. My posting in those days was at Headquarters 6 Armored Division Kharian so I also attended this course. The theme was "Psychological Warfare," also known today as Hybrid Warfare. The course was conducted by GHQ's Psy Ops Directorate and its instructors also came to teach us from the same directorate. It was a very informative course. The GHQ may have learned that the Soviet Union was preparing to invade Afghanistan. More than 100,000 troops, including tanks, artillery and gunships, and the free use of the air force, require confidentiality to move from the Soviet Union, but the size of the force is so great. It was impossible to hide it. Then the journey from Russia to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and crossing the Amu Darya were stages that could not be hidden from the eyes of other world powers.

In this course of psychological warfare, there were occasional hints from instructors that a major operation was about to take place on Afghanistan's northern borders. This course had very detailed material on the subject of propaganda which we began to be taught. Among the types of propaganda, three sub-categories were particularly noteworthy: white propaganda, black propaganda, and gray propaganda. The latter, Gray Propaganda, was debated for four days. What is the purpose of this propaganda, how does the enemy choose the time, which civilian and military sectors are affected, how is it prepared, how to use modern technology in modern forces What are the methods, in which military schools is this hybrid war being taught in the armies of Pakistan and India, what is the scope of its teaching in the foreign armies, what books are available in the international market on this subject? What is the arrangement for the promotion and distribution of this material in the general headquarters of Pakistan and India and how effective and efficient are the effects of this gray propaganda? All this information and topics were so "wide and wide" that the class I had to burn a lot of oil at night to digest the material taught in 8 periods and to critique and speak about it in the future.

Another thing that is especially characteristic of such short courses is that in a well-known war, many doors were opened to discuss the use of this propaganda and its consequences. How they were (or were not) used in previous Pak-India wars and whether these techniques and methods were welded by the Pakistan Army in its operations was also debated.

I would also like to share with the readers a personal incident in this regard. In 1969-70, I attended a Persian language course at a transit camp in Karachi. The Iranian officers were our instructors. It was a 6-month course and I was "superior" to the rank of second lieutenant at the time. He was the youngest in the class of 25 officers and many of the officers who participated in the course had also done the Quetta Staff Course. The course included most Arms and Services officers. Since this was a professional course and I did not yet know the nature of this profession, I kept failing the monthly tests "regularly". Then maybe the pride woke up and I started preparing for it seriously. The result was that he came first in the course in the final examination. Maybe the station commander or some other senior officer did not build a bridge of praise for me at the farewell ceremony, but he did not use stinginess. The reward was that I was picked up from the 20th Brigade (Jerry Kass) and posted hundreds of miles to Kalat Scouts, Khuzdar.

There was only one IGFC in those days. Therefore, General Sher Dil Khan Niazi, looking at my service data, said: “Persian is also understood and spoken in Balochistan. I am sending you there so that when you deviate from your professional responsibilities and go around among the people, your 'Persian wisdom' may come in handy for the army! "

He was right. I once reached a militia post called "Kachhao" from Khuzdar through Kalat, Noshki, Dalbandin and then through Sendak's mines in the north. The Iran-Afghanistan border is only 15 miles away. It is also a healthy place. In the heat of June-July, turtle waterfalls, springs / karez and fruit trees still haunt the heart and mind. People spoke Persian and when they found out that one of the officers of the Scouts also spoke "Farfar" Persian, they came to meet him. A Khan from Nimroz province of Afghanistan came to meet me and talked about the role of Iran and India in mapping the political situation of the province; it shocked me. I went back to Khuzdar and wrote a report mentioning the incident and with the permission of the commanding officer sent it to the officers above. Eventually the report reached the ISI headquarters and I began to receive a series of handwritten reports (in Persian). I saw them, read them and translated and sent them; no description or summary can be written. Professional and national requirements are met!

It all started with the Hybrid Warfare. Gray propaganda was mentioned.

Yesterday's "The New York Times" featured a front-page column with the headline:

A long War that might have ended in months.

Her author's name is Alissa Rubin. The gist of the article is: "The Taliban wanted to end this war in 2001, but the United States did not agree!" Opposed to the United States and the war they fought with Russia was aimed at discovering American war and weapon technology and raising dollars. The Afghan nation is a strange nation. He doesn't care about his life at all. The authenticity of the words of the Qur'an is embedded in its veins. Nimroz is one of the southern provinces. Zaranj is its capital. It shares borders with Pakistan and Iran. Iran's influence is obvious, and because of this, the people here were (and still are) very angry with the United States. We will see many more forms of this propaganda in the days to come, so Jupiter must be vigilant.