KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. Forces — Afghanistan's Facebook page logged its 20,000th fan Thursday, passing the milestone a little more than two months after going public, underscoring its position as the fastest-growing official military Facebook page.
The fan page, located at www.facebook.com/usforcesafghanistan, is one of the main tools used by the U.S. military in Afghanistan to disseminate news and imagery from its operations, and counter and preempt extremist propaganda.
In June, USFOR-A posted video on the page to quickly counter terrorist claims that U.S. troops had attacked civilians in the city of Asadabad. The video, captured by Combined Joint Task Force 82, exonerated U.S. troops and shifted blame for the attack to insurgents, who threw a grenade into a crowd that gathered near a disabled American truck.
The command used the site in May to display a series of videos taken from the biggest drug interdiction operation of the war. More recently the command shared videos of U.S. airstrikes, illustrating the care forces take to ensure civilian safety when using close air support.
As subscribers to the page, fans receive regular updates from the American headquarters in Kabul. Roughly 2,000 people, including fans, visit the page daily. Fans also have full access to post their own comments, links, photos and videos.
To date the page has fans from at least 18 countries, and is followed by major U.S. and Western media organizations and celebrities. The page's fan base has expanded rapidly, adding more than 250 followers a day on average since the launch. Nearly 250 press releases, 19 videos and hundreds of photos have been added to the site in that time.