Afghan wireless providers give in to Taliban demands; shut down networks at night
By Will Park on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 1:48 PM PST In Announcements
Those explosion-happy Taliban sure are good at what they do. Which is to say, blowing things up. By making good on their threat to target (Taliban speak for “blow to bits”) cellular towers if network operators didn’t shutdown their service at night, it seems that those crazy Taliban managed to get Afghan operators to acquiesce.
The BBC is reporting that 10 cell towers have been targeted by the Taliban in the past weeks, with 6 towers completely out of commission. The explosive move is an attempt to curb military communications over the cellular network.
Unfortunately, the wireless networks are the only means of communication for the Afghani people. Afghan officials are urging the network operators to not give in to Taliban demands, as it would cut off most of the population from their only line of communication – landline infrastructure is essentially non-existent in Afghanistan.
“We are concerned because the mobile phone companies had promised us that they would not bow before the Taleban demand,” said Abdul Hadi, a spokesman for the Telecommunications Ministry.
Good job, Taliban. You got the networks turned off at night. You sure showed those helpless military types.
[Via: Tech.co.uk]
If you didn’t register it the last time – the military does use gsm frequently in place of more expensive and less easily maintainable mobile relay stations. Indeed, the importance of building out communications is an important strategic goal for the military, and an essential part of “restoring order”.
And the next time you want to bemoan the misfortune of the poor Afghanis – please try to think first. I’m not asking for much of it, either.