As a string of Taliban victories has left Afghan forces in disarray, a young general is advancing a reputation on the battlefield and on social media.
Provincial cities in the north have fallen like dominoes this week, in some cases after government soldiers fled or surrendered without a fight, but the army looks to be standing firm in Lashkar Gah, a Taliban stronghold.
Sami Sadat, 36, the highest-ranking army commander in southern Afghanistan, is leading them in a fierce battle to defend a provincial capital that the Taliban are keen to take.
And, while terrorists post photos of surrendering Afghan soldiers on social media and take selfies with civilians, the young general is utilising Twitter and Facebook as smart public relations weapons in the war against extreme Islamists.
He and the 20,000 men in the 215th Corps under his command have amassed thousands of followers, with photos of the general among the troops, posing for selfies with young civilians and visiting local merchants adorning their Twitter feeds.
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The defence ministry announced on Wednesday that he had been elevated to command the country’s special forces, news that was enthusiastically praised on social media.
Sadat remains optimistic despite the Taliban’s advances.
‘Because I know we are going to win. I know this is our country, that the Taliban are failing, that they will fail sooner or later,’ he told the media in a phone interview from the frontlines of Lashkar Gah.
But, according to his coworkers and pals, there’s more to him than meets the eye.
‘He is anything but naive,’ said a security official who asked not to be named.
‘He has a very strategic vision and a very deep analysis of what is happening,’ a general who was Sadat’s colleague at the spy agency said.
Sadat began his military career in the Afghan interior ministry after graduating from the famous King’s College in London.
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He underwent military training in Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland and the United States, as well as service in Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security.
Sadat likes to speak about his soldiers rather than himself or his family — top commanders and their relatives are frequent targets for Taliban death squads — and even refuses to reveal his birthplace.
But he’s also eager to discuss the battle, which he does with confidence — and ruthlessness. ‘Any Taliban who comes to Lashkar Gah will die or leave disabled for life,’ he said. Nonetheless, he acknowledges that properly securing the city would take time.
On August 4, Sadat ordered people to evacuate Lashkar Gah so that the military could begin an all-out attack.
But he has remained silent, claiming that he is afraid of harming others who have chosen to remain silent.
Sadat told how his men went house to house in Lashkar Gah to protect neighbourhoods where the Taliban had entered. ‘We still find civilians — especially the elderly and trapped women — who we take to safer places,’ he said.
NGOs and the UN have frequently raised alarm about the violence and hazards faced by civilians, including the Afghan military’s aerial bombing of suspected Taliban strongholds in Lashkar Gah.
Despite the Taliban’s morale-depleting successes elsewhere in Afghanistan, the devotion and respect Sadat appears to command among the troops has been a major element in the city’s resistance to the Taliban.
‘He is not someone who gives orders from the rear while hiding in the humvee and will do anything for his soldiers,’ an Afghan security source said.
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