Activities of the PSYOPS Team in Afghanistan

The primary mission of the HUN PRT-11 PSYOPS team is to “amplify", by choosing the widest possible target audience, the messages and information about the results of the HUN PRT’s work that are intended for the local population (enemy).

The PSYOPS team has several items of equipment to execute the tasks, such as the billboards they put up along the main roads in the center of designated settlements, at the busiest spots.

Speech is the simplest form of communication. Direct communication is a fundamental way of getting across the key messages, during which the soldiers can disseminate information to the local population with the help of interpreters.

The most effective means to convey messages is the local electronic and print media. The messages and notices sent via the audio-video media provide information about the efforts of the HUN PRT for the Afghan people, and may be crucial to influencing the locals’ opinion about the Hungarian troops in Baghlan Province. The locals are more willing to accept the news and messages about the HUN PRT that are conveyed via the media than if they would hear them from a soldier sent by the HUN PRT. However, newspapers can convey messages only to those able to read them, and television, even with its rapid development, is unable to provide a coverage area of the whole province. Moreover, not every family can afford to buy a TV set: furthermore, the electricity supply is available only on certain days and covers only part of the settlements. Radio is the most widespread, but broadcasting is unavailable in many places due to the tall mountains.

That is why it is essential that the HUN PRT PSYOPS team be able to convey the messages by itself. For this purpose they have a multimedia all-terrain vehicle which is able to carry the PSYOPS messages to isolated settlements. This is where the fielding of so-called info-boxes comes into play. These info-boxes are placed next to governmental offices frequented by the locals, who do their daily business there. The written summaries and photos of the HUN PRT development projects help the population learn about the events happening around them.

Technical development is unstoppable in Afghanistan too, and opens up new vistas for the conduct of PSYOPS operations. The mobile phone network has been expanding in the country at an unprecedented pace, which brings about a corresponding growth in the number of mobile phone users. Even those families have now mobile phones that cannot always afford a daily meal. In the future, the text and multimedia messages transmitted through mobile phones may offer a solution to the problem of reaching the isolated population. The plans and the background studies have already been prepared for generating a related future capability.

Getting the messages across and increasing the psychological effects produced by the ISAF forces is only one task on the wide spectrum of PSYOPS missions. The hostile forces active in the province are as much aware of the importance of conveying their messages as we are. Countering such enemy propaganda is another PSYOPS task.