On 15 August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul. By capturing the capital of Afghanistan, they regained control over the country and its government. This ended a twenty-year long war against the...Show moreOn 15 August 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul. By capturing the capital of Afghanistan, they regained control over the country and its government. This ended a twenty-year long war against the Western backed government, the United States, and other Western nations. Now that they have full control over the state and its institutions, the question of their legitimacy arises. This thesis will look at how their legitimacy is framed in US news media. The US has been the main sponsor nation of Afghanistan and has withdrawn humanitarian and financial aid now that the Taliban is in power. This has impacted the Afghan population severely. The US media has an impact on these policies through their framing of the issue for the American audience. In order to find the main themes surrounding this topic, a thematic analysis is conducted. The dataset consists of 30 news articles from five different news sources. These are The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and CNN. It finds that the Taliban’s legitimacy is linked to five different themes. Two of these themes are about the Taliban’s external legitimacy. These themes are human rights, especially the rights of women and whether or not there should be international cooperation with them. Three other themes are identified that are related to their internal legitimacy. These are the Taliban’s repression of the Afghan population, the fact that people are fleeing the country and the fact that Afghanistan is going through an economic and humanitarian crisis. By focusing on these five themes, the US news media paint a picture of an organisation that lacks both internal and external legitimacy and therefore is illegitimate.Show less
