Al-Qaida steps up propaganda with Afghanistan clip

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Al-Qaida posted a video showing what it claimed to be an attack by its fighters seizing a US-Afghan post in southern Afghanistan, in what experts said was a step up in the terror group's increasingly sophisticated propaganda. The 24-minute video posted Friday, with an English narration apparently by an American al-Qaida member - depicts the alleged attack from beginning to end - showing fighters scouting out the base, planning, carrying out a night battle, then being "welcomed as liberators" by people depicted as local Afghans. "It certainly has an element of being staged, but there is a difference from previous videos of attacks on coalition troops," said terrorist expert Evan Kohlman of the U.S.-based globalterroralert.com. "It purports to show the 'complete story' of the attack ... including the 'joy' of ordinary Afghans liberated by the Taliban," Kohlman told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "Of course, the Afghans in the video may be just Taliban themselves." The video carries the logo of the al-Qaida media company, as-Sahab, and was posted on an Islamic Web site known for hosting extremist material.