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Taliban Demands Downtime on Afghanistan Cellphone Networks

Posted by samzenpus on from the since-you-asked-nicely dept.

faster_manic writes "The Taliban has demanded that cellphone network providers in Afghanistan cease service between the hours of 5pm and 7am each night of the week, as they believe American troops are able to track down Taliban members using their cellphones."

6 of 659 comments (clear)

  1. Try Reading The Article by mjpaci · · Score: 5, Interesting
    From the article:

    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). They're trying to disrupt the Americans' use of cell phones as a communication network for gathering information. i.e. informants all over the country phone in the whereabouts of Taliban baddies.
  2. Re:Isn't it as easy as by jimicus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think George Bernard Shaw said it best:

    "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.".

    It's probably not politically correct to point out that in this case, "progress" would mean "towards a Taliban-controlled state which is about half a millennium behind the rest of the world".

  3. Re:Isn't it as easy as by CptNerd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are whole counties in Kentucky where even beer and wine are illegal. Google the phrase "dry county" and "wet-dry elections" and you'll see where. I know first-hand, because I grew up in one, city of Middlesboro, Bell County, Kentucky.

    What was always interesting was how often the bootleggers sided with the preachers to keep the county dry, every time they held a vote.

    --
    By the taping of my glasses, something geeky this way passes
  4. Re:Note the word "essential" in Ben's quote by MightyYar · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I love Ben's wisdom, but this quote is being so overused and so often poorly used that it is being diminished. The really funny thing is, the original appearance of this quote criticizing the Quakers for not accepting guns when they were being attacked by natives. The "essential liberty" he is referring to is in this case firearms. :) I'm simplifying of course, but I need to stay funny.

    The original quote from 1755 is:
    "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

    He was actually talking about a collection of people who were living on the frontier, and my comment is a gross simplification... it was apparently well-received because he used it many times throughout the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary periods, in many different contexts.
    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  5. Re:Isn't it as easy as by CKW · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I figured it out.

    The problem the Taliban have isn't that their own cellphones are emitting at night. I'm damn sure they're careful with cellphone use.

    The problem is when NATO electronically sees a whole village *leave* their village at 2am.

    Hmmm, I wonder what town the Taliban just rolled into?

  6. Informants! by gnuman99 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The issue is not some super high-tech gadgets. It is basic intelligence. It is the informants! The informants in the Afghan population are reporting Taliban movements to their local police or military units. That's it. When you turn off the cell towers, then Taliban can move much more freely as no one will be reporting them.

    Taliban is not supported by majority, or even a sizable minority in Afghanistan. People are tired of war. Hell, 25+ years of it in one way or another.

    Furthermore, do you think the women like Taliban? Even if only 1 in 100 women is brave enough to report Taliban movements, that's 1 in 200 people. And I would guess that most med do not want their women bound to their houses either (hey, men don't like the extra work ;).

    Kabul is now thriving compared to when Taliban were in power. Kandahar is even much better off now. People see the change. There are more informants every day. And cellphones are what is enabling them to provide the military/police with intelligence they would never be able to gather alone.