Taliban 1/3 Threatening Calls Not Taliban Spokesman`s Voice
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
At least two people had telephone interviews with domestic and foreign media under the name of Qari Yousaf Ahmadi, the purported Taliban spokesman, according to a voiceprint study Monday.
Bae Myung-jin, a professor at Soongsil University's phonetics institute, examined nine interviews of Ahmadi disclosed through the media between July 21 and Aug. 2 and found six out of them were made by the same person, with the other three from a different person or persons.
``The comment that the alleged Ahmadi made with the foreign press on July 26 about one hostage's killing and the comment disclosed by AIP on Aug. 2 about safety of the remaining 21 hostages were from different people,'' Bae said.
Bae analyzed remarks in nine interviews _ ``We killed one German,'' on July 21; ``We have the right to demand Taliban prisoners' release,'' on July 24; ``The negotiation is making good progress and is at the critical moment,'' on July 25; ``We shot dead one Korean,'' on July 26; ``We did not release eight hostages,'' on July 26; ``We'll start killing hostages regardless of their sex,'' on July 30; ``We may kill remaining hostages,'' on July 31; ``We want the Korean and the Afghan governments to accept our demand,'' on Aug. 2; and ``Two female hostages are sick,'' on Aug. 2.
According to the study, six responses made between July 21 and 25 and between July 31 and Aug. 2 had a 92-98 percent similarity, having a similar vocal chordal structure, sound pattern and changes in tone.
However, the other three between July 26 and 30 had 53-72 percent of similarity.
``The percentage of more than 90 percent means the voice is from one person, and more than 80 percent indicates they are from different members of one family. If it is 70 percent or over, the voices are made from different persons although they sound similar, and around 50 percent means the voices come from totally different persons,'' Bae said.
The six voice samples have stable and slow vocalization and the person speaking seems to think a lot and be careful when speaking, Bae said. Compared to the six voice samples, the remaining three are strong and fast, and convey threatening messages.
Bae said he has not found if the three voice samples were made from one person or more.
The study indicates either at least two Taliban militants contacted the media under one name of Ahmadi or a third party unrelated to the kidnappers played a trick. But it is not provable either whether the six voices are really made by Ahmadi.
``The majority of news agencies are giving misleading reports. The anchors they hired in Ghazni are providing them fake voices and getting vast sums of money. The Korean media is very much misguided by false and baseless reporting,'' a source from Afghanistan told The Korea Times.
``The credibility of alleged Ahmadi has greatly fallen through the study. The authorities or the media need to verify the speaker with voiceprint examination when the Taliban spokesman makes announcements,'' Bae said.