After Taliban militants took control of Kabul on Aug. 15, the official Weibo account of the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper People’s Daily issued a post along with a 60-second video clip, describing the Taliban as a group, formed by students in refugee camps, that expanded with the support of the poor.
The post, which in no way mentioned the group’s links to terrorism, prompted a huge backlash from users in China and was deleted about four hours after it appeared.
The move is one example of how Chinese media have repeatedly been reporting on the Taliban favorably, presenting positive images of the group.