"Afghan & coalition forces killed four militants & detained two suspects in a Wardak Province operation targeting an IED-network commander," said a military tweet Monday, coming in just under the 140-character limit for such messages. IED is shorthand for a roadside bomb.
Care to participate? Sign up with http://twitter.com and then go to http://www.twitter.com/usfora.
On the military's Facebook page, http://tinyurl.com/nz3xam, launched on a test basis in April, members of the public can talk to US spokespeople, while its YouTube postings on www.youtube.com/usfora will feature original material such as video news stories.
"There's an entire audience segment that seeks its news from alternative means outside traditional news sources, and we want to make sure we're engaging them as well," said Colonel Greg Julian, the top US military spokesman in Afghanistan.
But the limitations of military tweeting were quickly laid bare when it was announced Monday that four US troops were killed in two separate roadside bombings. Those troops were under NATO command, which would have to approve an announcement on the US military's Twitter page.
Besides tweeting, the brass are also encouraging troops to post stories and photos on websites to portray daily life in Afghanistan and highlight development projects that may not have made the news. Julian described it as "an unfiltered opportunity" for public interaction with troops.
Many military commands and individual troops already use social networking sites. But the effort in Afghanistan is the first to harness the power of such sites for spreading information from an active war zone.
Not all the Facebook posts have been promilitary, and officials say no criticisms will be suppressed provided postings are free of hate speech or sexual or otherwise offensive material.
A team based in Kabul will update and maintain the sites and watch for false postings that evade the password protections. US troops already scour websites, respond to questions from individuals, and rebut what the military considers to be false information.
