Taliban order ban on smartphones as officials shown destroying devices

The Taliban have ordered a sweeping ban on the use of smartphones by government officials – in what some analysts say could foreshadow broader, population-level restrictions.

In a directive issued by the Taliban’s military courts and reviewed by the Guardian, the ban was to take effect this week and prohibits “high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff” from using mobile phones.

In one video published online, a Taliban official appears to be shown reading the banning order from his phone while the other person is shown breaking phones.

The order states: “If anyone uses one, their mobile phone will be smashed and legal and sharia punishment will be imposed on the violator.” It adds that any exemptions require a written decree from the Taliban supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Guardian was unable to reach a Taliban spokesperson.

Reports and sources inside Afghanistan say that the bans are being implemented in an “ad-hoc” way – in some areas targeting only government officials, in some cities and provinces extending to women, civilians, medical workers, schoolteachers and students.

“A lot of things happen at the local level, because of what someone local has decided. But also, it could be a prelude to a blanket ban and they are just testing the waters,” said an analyst who works on Afghanistan.

The bans come after escalating efforts by the Taliban to completely cut Afghanistan off from the global internet. In September, authorities ordered an internet blackout which lasted two days and was vaguely justified by concerns over pornography; the order said the cutoff was to “prevent immorality”.

The Afghanistan analyst said that cutoff was done hastily and with a lack of foresight. It froze commerce across the country and affected emergency services and aviation.

“The private sector was freaking out, the banking sector was freaking out, even their own people – the security sector and the supreme leader’s office – and they realised ‘OK guys, we didn’t really think this through’, so they put it back on,” the analyst said.

There are probably several factors driving the latest ban. First, the street demonstrations that broke out in the western city of Herat after the Taliban arrested women and girls for “improper hijab”. In the course of the protests, Taliban forces appeared to fire into a crowd and killed at least two people.