From Tim Mak, POLITCO: As the Taliban’s attack on key buildings in Kabul was crushed after 20 hours of fighting, NATO-led forces engaged in a tweet tussle with a user that the UK’s Guardian has identified as a spokesperson for the insurgent group. . . .
Twitter user @ISAFmedia, who usually writes about the security situation in Afghanistan, tweeted, “Re: Taliban spox on #Kabul attack: the outcome is inevitable. Question is how much longer will terrorist put innocent Afghans in harm’s way? . . .”
Taliban spokesman Abdulqahar Balkhi, @ABalkhi, wrote in a shorthand typical of the medium. “i dnt knw.u hve bn pttng thm n ‘harm’s way’ fr da pst 10 yrs.Razd whole vllgs n mrkts.n stil hv da nrve to tlk bout ‘harm’s way’.”
The International Security Assistance Force shot back that 80 percent of civilian casulties resulted from insurgent activities. Balkhi questioned these statistics, tweeting that the source statistic was from a U.N. body, and ISAF was a U.N. mission. “Unama is an entity of whom? mine or yours?” he asked, referring to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. (graphic: NATO)