[Infowarrior] - Taliban wants cell phone networks shut down at night

[Richard Forno]

Taliban wants cell phone networks shut down at night

By Jacqui Cheng | Published: February 25, 2008 - 11:53AM CT

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080225-taliban-wants-cell-phone-netwo
rks-shut-down-at-night.html

The towers and offices of mobile phone operators in Afghanistan are being
pressured to shut down operations at night by the Taliban. The former rulers
of Afghanistan and current insurgent group held "talks" with the four major
mobile companies in Afghanistan today, and gave them three days to go dark
for 14 hours per day‹or else.

The reason for the threat is the Taliban's belief that American soldiers and
rebels within Afghanistan are using mobile phones to track down remaining
Taliban members. "Since the occupying forces stationed in Afghanistan
usually at night use mobile phones for espionage to track down the
mujahideen, the Islamic Emirate gave a three-day ultimatum to all mobile
phone firms to switch off their phones from five in the afternoon until
seven in the morning," Taliban spokesperson Qari Mohammad Yousuf told
Reuters, ironically via mobile phone (and presumably during daylight).

Three of the four companies receiving the ultimatum‹Roshan, Areeba, and
Etisalat‹are not based in Afghanistan, with the fourth being the Afghan
Wireless Communication Company. They are considered major investors in the
country's economy, as there are still almost no other means of outside
communication since the Taliban's fall in 2001. If they give in to the
Taliban's threat, communications within the country would be severely
disrupted due to the lack of landlines.

This isn't the first time the Taliban has challenged mobile operators in
Afghanistan. In the past, the group has accused the phone companies of
actively working with US troops as well as NATO, although not much has
happened as a result of those threats. Still, it's no doubt unsettling to
the mobile operators to know that they may be targeted for continuing with
business as usual‹especially since the US is reportedly using satellites and
not mobile phone operators for tracking.