Media Coverage of Terrorism
The international Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was established in 2001 December by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). It was established as Afghanistan security mission led by NATO. This was done by the UNSC 1386 resolution as predicted by the Bonn Agreement. The main purpose of ISAF formation was to help Afghanistan government to fight terrorist. This was to be done by enhancing the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) training and helping the country to reconstruct main institutions of the government. The ISAF was also involved in the Taliban insurgency war from 2001 to date. ISAF has its headquarters in Afghanistan in Kabul town (Nederlands Instituut, 2009). It is guided by cooperation and assistance motto in all its operations. The current ISAF commander is known as General John F Campbell from the USA, who has been operational since 2014. The current deputy commander of ISAF is Lieutenant General Tim Radford from the United Kingdoms who has also been in operation since 2014. The deputy commander transition position is held by Lieutenant General Paolo Ruggiero from Italy. The current chief of staff is known as Lieutenant General Frank Leidenberger (DEU) (NATO, 2015).
ISAF has highly been involved in social development in the Afghanistan especially in government, education and agriculture sector. This has been basically met through security enhancement, making it easy for citizen to continue with their daily operation. IASF According to the “ISAF hosts women’s shura to promote positive change” article, the ISAF funded for Afghan, civil society, students, professors, and parliamentarians consultation or shura to discuss corruption and gender issues and their impacts in the society. This consultation focused more on women education in Afghanistan among other problems affecting women in the Afghanistan society. The consultation was specifically funded by the Transparency unit of ISAF. This article demonstrates how far the ISAF has gone to support education and other social development in Afghanistan (Cruz, 2012). In the “Construction Begins on agriculture, livestock building in Kandahar,” the paper describes the effort the IASF has employed to enhance the agricultural growth in the Afghanistan. IASF sponsored the construction of $145,000 building to act as an agricultural and livestock directorate offices for the country. Being one of the regions that depends on agriculture , this move was to assist in the promotion of agricultural performance of the region by ensuring that the right agricultural related advise are at the disposal of farmers and that their operations are well taken care of. The ISAF has also been able develop the government in Afghanistan (ISAF Joint Command, 2012).
According to “The ISAF mission and Turkey’s role in rebuilding the Afghan state” article, the ISAF played a great role in 2005 to reconstruct the Afghanistan government that was completely destroyed after the country embarked on war with Taliban. The article describes the condition of the Afghanistan at the very moment when the article was being written. At this very moment, Afghanistan never had a government to coordinate operations in the country. The paper describes the consultation process that was going on with the aid of the ISAF to restore the Afghanistan government. This meeting was facilitated by the Lt. Gen Ethem Erdagi who was the then commander of the ISAF. This discussion was taking place in Turkey a city in Afghanistan in 2005. At this time the country did not have a central state, and both the police and the army had been taken over by the independent militias. Afghanistan economy was far below all other nations in the world. In this regard, the country needed international military aid and support to reconstruct its government. The article discusses how this process was being carried out in its early stages (Erdagi, 2005).
Media ensure intensive coverage of the terrorism incidences in different parts of the world. They capture and air all possible pictures of terror irrespective of how traumatizing they are. Media also ensure a critical analysis of these incidences is presented to the public. This includes the national security failure and its contribution to a successful attack, government response to the incident, negligence or mistakes that resulted to more deaths, and past government negotiation with terrorist among other incidences. This tables the government concern and effort in the eyes of the public and thus, influencing the public opinion regarding the issue, irrespective of whether the information is true or it is just propaganda (Walsh, 2010).
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Terrorist attacks are very traumatizing to individuals who are directly involved, those that witnessed and to the friends, to the relatives of the affected individuals and the country in general. However, the incident is more traumatizing to those that were directly affect since they losses properties, their loved ones, some get injuries, while others are displaced among many other problems. In this regard, quick response is needed to aid those who are affected either by rescuing and evacuating them, offering them first aid and transporting them to the hospitals, offering them food and water, offering them shelter and also offering the psychological support through counseling. If quick and effective response is not offered, the country may lose more people than necessary, and worsen the situation of those who suffered physical and mental condition. Thus affecting the psychological condition of all those who are directly or indirectly affect. This also demonstrates a negative opinion toward the government and lowering citizens’ trust on the government, while increasing their fear and state of uncertainty regarding their future.
Media coverage on terrorist instills fear in a country, especially to individuals living in the high risk region or the targeted places. It creates a state of anxiety, disturbing the psychological functionality of different people. This result to poor output from most individuals an aspect that affects the economy of the country. It also creates fear of being in some parts of the country and thus, most individual avoid those parts of the country, an aspect that negatively affect the transportation sector. This coverage also attracts petty criminal who take advantage of the state of fear to steal or commit other crimes against citizens. It may also result to migration out of the highly targeted area, an aspect that influences farming and other agricultural activities (Walsh, 2010).
The most successful fear management technique in international arena includes provision of positive statement that demonstrate the efforts employed to ensure a traumatizing incident does not occur. Positive media conference statements gives people hope and trust that the government is in the control or the government allies are on control. Thus, they feel more secure and protected. This goes hand in hand with hiding some information regarding threats or planned attacks uncovered by the intelligent units and acting against or to counter them without making it public. This eliminate raise of anxiety and fear among citizens living in those regions.
References
Cruz, N. (2012). ISAF hosts women’s shura to promote positive change. Retrieved from <http://www.rs.nato.int/article/news/isaf-hosts-women-s-shura-to-promote-positive-change.html>
Erdagi, E. (2005).The ISAF mission and Turkey’s role in rebuilding the Afghan state. Retrieved from <http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-isaf-mission-and-turkeys-role-in-rebuilding-the-afghan-state>
NATO. (2015). ISAF’s mission in Afghanistan (2001-2014). Retrieved from http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_69366.htm
Nederlands Instituut. (2009). International security assistance force (ISAF). Nederlands Instituut voor Militaire Historie.
ISAF Joint Command (2012). Construction Begins on agriculture, livestock building in Kandahar. Retrieved from <http://www.rs.nato.int/article/isaf-releases/construction-begins-on-agriculture-livestock-building-in-kandahar.html>
Walsh, J. I. (2010). Media attention to terrorist attacks: causes and consequences. Research Brief. Institute for Homeland Security Solutions. Retrieved from <http://sites.duke.edu/ihss/files/2011/12/IHSS_Research-Brief_Walsh.pdf>
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