The Afghanistan War in 140 Characters

“Anyone with a [mobile] phone can be Christiane f***ing Amanpour now,” an aidworker friend of mine remarked when I brought up the subject of Twitter and the Afghanistan war. While my friend’s statement may be an exaggeration, there’s some truth to it.

Before January this year, I mocked Twitter and its users. Tweets, tweeters, Twitterers —whatever. Even the terminology screamed social media fad and time-waster. No thanks, I thought. I'm, you know, an adult. I blog. Then, someone told me Twitter was replete with interesting tidbits from and about Afghanistan. My interest piqued. I gave in and set up an account.

Ten months on, I cannot. pry. myself. away.

When something happens in Afghanistan, it appears in my Twitter feed before it hits the wires. Aidworkers and journalists reach for their phones in the middle of bombings, shootings and earthquakes. When a massive bombing was carried out in Kandahar in August, journalist Felix Kuehn broke the news on Twitter, just seconds after his windows were blown out by the blast. A full hour later, news of the bombing hit the wires.

For an armchair observer, there are moments of real tension, such as when Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress used his Blackberry to tweet through what he initially thought was an attack on the US embassy in Kabul.

It’s not all real time mayhem. As a utility famous for, and best at, broadcasting the inane thoughts of regular people, Twitter captures the absurdist side of expatriate civilian life in a war zone as no other medium can. NGO employees frantically gathering alcohol in advance of a lockdown. Giggles triggered by someone coughing into a nearby mosque loudspeaker. Eyebrows singed off in an unfortunate encounter with a water heater. Little pieces of an existence as distorted as can be imagined, yet, paradoxically, mundane in so many ways.

Twitter has a lot to say about the psychological effects of living in an anxious, cloistered, dangerous place. A somber tweet about the likelihood of yet another suicide bombing is, more often than not, followed shortly by something hilarious. Expat life in Kabul, relayed 140 characters at a time, is a black comedy—as clever and dark and violent as a British zombie movie.

At the same time, Twitter captures occasional moments of levity, and the banal side of an enemy often conferred subhuman or superhuman qualities. Alex Strick van Linschoten’s now semi-famous 20 October tweet about a member of the Taliban placing a large takeout dinner order for his fellow fighters is chuckle-worthy. But also jarring.

It’s as clear a reminder a long-distance observer can receive that this is not a war between cosmic forces of good and evil, or between clashing civilizations. Instead, it is a very messy, very human conflict. The Taliban aren’t an army of savage space aliens. They’re guys who order takeout at night and get up to plant roadside bombs, kidnap journalists and gun down policewomen in the morning. Somehow, at least for me, that's a more disquieting thought.

Thanks for reminding me, Twitter.

***

This is my last Twitter post for a while. I promise. For tweets from Afghanistan, follow these people:

@lizva, @Tomafg, @Hairan, @Orzala, @Strickvl, @Itamena, @Girlofgordon, @Kabulleslie, @Paulinkabul, and @Felixkuehn.

[Photo: Fardin Waezi (UNAMA)