The Taleban have forced a blackout of mobile phones in the West in order to operate their own communication networks without fear of being tracked down at night.
Phone companies like Roshan, Afghan Wireless Communication Company, MTN, Etisalat, Salaam have between them 910 cellphone towers in Herat, Farah, Ghor, Badghis and Nimroz provinces.
Sayed Ameer Shah Sadat, former head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) and currently its head in Badakhshan, explains the shutting down of towers benefits three groups: Taleban, drug traffickers and arms smugglers. “Our investigations show they force mobile companies to shut towers at night so they can use their illegal wireless (hand-held sets called ICOM) and other networks to carry out their work,” he says. Carriers that have ignored the night-time shutdown order have had their cellphone towers burnt down, and staff attacked, he confirms.
The groups don’t want villagers to pass on tips of their activities to security forces. Each tower has been built at a cost of as much as 400,000 USD.
Herat
Zmerai Hamdard, the head of telecommunication coordinator ATRA in Herat, points out towers are inactive at night in districts like Owbae, Kahsan, Keshk Kohna, Kushk Robat Sangi and Gulran due to threats from Taleban. “They have done this so their communications are not heard by security forces and they can implement their plans,” he says.
According to Hamdard, phone companies pay Taleban in some districts to be able to continue doing business.
Killid has a copy of an ATRA document that lists district-wise the active and partially inactive masts.
Figures from the crime department of Herat Police shows there are some 158 armed groups across 15 districts in the province.
Sayed Gul Aqa Hashemi, the head of the department, says the carriers in Sheedand, Gulran, Chesht, Rabat Sangi and Keshk Kuhna districts are worst off. “In other districts like Kohsan, Ghrian, Zendajan, Guzara, Owbae and Pashtoon Zarghoon the threat is moderate while Enjeel is safe,” he says.
Abdul Satar, who lives in Herat City says he had traveled to Keshk Rabat Sangi district at night, and the network was down from 6pm to 6am. “It was a hard time for me, I could not contact my family,” he says.
A police officer in Sheendand district, Hafizullah, told Killid that when armed men attacked their post one night they could not call for reinforcements because the cell phone tower was down. “As a result we are unable to eliminate or arrest armed groups,” he says.
Hashemi insists officials of phone companies found paying bribes to stay in business are “arrested, and a case is filed.” But he would not give details, saying he was not permitted to speak to the media.
Farah
Cellphones in the province also go dead at night. There are some 71 towers across Farah; 39 in the districts. Jamaludin Padshahkhil, the head of the provincial telecommunication department, says some 25 attempts to stop the towers from functioning were “prevented”. “The actions included attacks on antennas and threats to staff,” he explains. Padshahkhil counts the districts of Balaboolook, Qala Kah and Juyand as the worst affected.
Ghor
Two towers in Shahrak district close at night. There are a total of 47 in Ghor. Mohammad Haidar Azizi, the head of communication department in Ghor says four antennas of Etisalat were demolished in Shahrak, Tolak and Charsada districts. “There are still threats against the communication companies in Ghor province,” he says.
Badghis
Cell phone towers in Ghormach and Murghab districts are inactive at night. There are 48 antennas in Badghis. Haji Sher Ahmad, a member of the supervisory committee for communication and internet companies says mobile phone companies have been targeted by Taleban and other armed groups since 2010. The Taleban are careful not to cripple the network entirely for fear of a backlash from people. The partial cellphone blackout has created a lot of resentment against both the Taleban and the government for failing to provide security.
Nimroz
The western province is relatively unaffected; only one of the 44 towers shuts down at night. Mobile phone users that depend on the tower in Del Aram are out of the network between 5pm and 6.30am. Mohammad Jawad, head of ATRA in Nimroz, says the Taleban also targeted cell phone carriers in Khashrod and Char Borjak districts, but the threats have reduced over the past year.
The Taleban first turned their attention to the cellphone industry around 2006. International forces were monitoring movements of armed groups by tracking their mobile phones. The demand for partial shut-down first came from local commanders. In 2008, the Taleban made it official policy. The government tried to counter that by asking phone companies to resist the Taleban, but after some 40 towers were destroyed the government stopped insisting the industry operate at night-time.
Authorities in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology admits a resurgent Taleban have disrupted mobile phone networks in some areas. Nasratullah Rahimi, the spokesperson of the ministry, says the issue has been brought to the notice of the ministries of defence, interior affairs and NDS. He says the ministry has set up Salaam Network, offering uninterrupted mobile phone service, and two helplines: 998 for female callers and 999 for males.
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