Taliban orders officials to give up smartphones as restrictions spread
Under a Taliban directive that took effect June 16, government employees, judges, police and members of the military in Afghanistan have been ordered to stop using smartphones, with only basic “feature” phones — call and text, no touchscreen, camera or recording — permitted. Violators face confiscation and destruction of their devices along with unspecified punishment. The order does not yet reach private smartphone ownership by ordinary Afghans.
Enforcement is already extending beyond ministries. In some provinces the restriction has moved into hospitals, schools and universities, prompting concern that it is a step toward broader limits on public smartphone use. Health workers have reportedly stopped carrying smartphones out of fear, cutting off tools such as WhatsApp that they had relied on for coordinating care and handling urgent cases.
The measure fits the Taliban’s pattern of curbing devices and channels that carry images, outside information and private communication — the same rationale behind earlier internet and media restrictions. Its near-term cost falls on the functioning of the state’s own institutions, particularly health and education, where smartphones had become working infrastructure.