Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bombs lighting up the Baghdad sky during the Gulf War proved to be a defining moment for CNN and live television.
October 10, 2001
Watch the Raids in Afghanistan on the Web
By Eric AuchardBut 10 years on, people can turn to the Web -- a communications medium not widely available in 1991 -- as their vital source for news, not only for day-to-day events, but behind-the-scenes coverage not typically seen on television.
From daily intelligence analysis to detailed satellite maps, live radio reports and a cacophony of warring opinions, the Internet offers a wealth of information for those willing to filter through the dead links and little-heard languages.
"In a sense, there is more information today than ever available before during wartime," said Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' intelligence policy project and a critic of U.S. government secrecy.
"Certainly there are vastly larger numbers of news organizations with Web sites in every language, in every part of the world. not just Afghanistan," he said.
Newspapers, TV and radio have brought us images of war for a century or more -- who can forget the radio narratives of the London Blitz during World War II or Vietnam, the first televised war?
But with the number of Web-based news sites, chat rooms and video cameras growing on a daily basis, experts say Afghanistan may yet prove the mettle of the Internet.
By its very nature, the Afghanistan conflict -- being fought using traditional military methods as well as covert diplomatic and intelligence efforts -- lends itself to the Internet and its myriad information sources.
"The problem isn't the availability of information," said Charles Norchi, a history professor at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y. "The problem is the overwhelming availability of information."
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE ONLINE
The Web offers professional-level intelligence that in the past might have been available only to military officers and politicians.
Stratfor.com, an Austin, Texas-based site founded by several former U.S. intelligence analysts, has caught on among journalists, academics and other keen observers of Afghanistan.
The private intelligence and forecasting firm, which has been in operation since 1994, boasts 40 analysts. The site, located at http://www.stratfor.com, offers different levels of access to military analysis and industry specific reports from regions around the globe.
Individuals can sign up for a free daily e-mail summary that homes in on issues behind the headlines, or pay $79 for a full year's access to a range of daily reports.
"We try to focus on what's not already in the news," Stratfor spokeswoman Meredith Friedman said.
Stratfor, working in partnership with the Economist Intelligence Unit for the past year, serves a multinational client base who pay extra for customized reports. Its Afghan research features the work of Victor Govarev, a former Russian military officer.
GlobalSecurity.org displays pictures of military bases, rebel camps and other secret areas captured by remote commercial satellites. The Washington, D.C.-based site at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/index.html also offers detailed maps of Afghanistan.
EurasiaNet.org aims to provide unbiased analysis, from various points of view, for diplomatic, academic and non-governmental organization observers of the countries of Central Eurasia, including Iran and Afghanistan.
"There are profound consequences of U.S. actions in Central Asia, not just in Afghanistan," Justin Burke, editor of New York-based EurasiaNet, said of the site's focus on regional issues. Eurasianet (http://www.eurasianet.org/) is backed by the Soros Foundation, global financier George Soros' philanthropic organization.
TEXT, TV AND RADIO
Afghan News Network (http://www.myafghan.com/) has rocketed out of obscurity since the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S. soil. The site, begun as a personal interest by a Southern California college student a year ago, offers links to major Western news outlets such as the N.Y. Times, the U.K.'s Guardian and wire services.
Ahmad, 23, the site's creator, who asked that his last name not be printed, was born in Kabul and emigrated from Afghanistan in 1981, said he started the site a year ago, after having found it hard to locate news from reliable sources about his native land.
Together with his cousin, Ahmad said he updates the site two times a day. He's drawing 25,000 page views a day since the U.S. retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan began on Sunday, up from about 10,000 pages a day over the prior month, he said. Before the events of Sept. 11 spurred renewed interest in Afghanistan, he recorded only 1,000 pages read per day.
Afghan radio stations are collected together at http://www.radioafghanistan.com/. Television sites include state-controlled Pakistani Television Corp. Ltd. at http://www.ptv-news.com.pk/, which features live, full-length feeds of Pakistani government briefings, in English with Urdu subtitles.
"If anything, we run the risk of having a glut of information, not all of which is of high quality. Just sifting through it all becomes the chore," Aftergood said.
Copyright 2001 Reuters