NPR: Across Afghanistan, smartphones have become part of a fragile support system. Families use them to consult doctors remotely, arrange transport to distant clinics, send photos of wounds and symptoms, ask relatives for money, document abuse and reach schooling that is no longer available in person to many girls and women. That fragile network is
Amu: The order prohibits civilian and military employees from using smartphones in public offices across the province. The ban also comes amid a wider Taliban effort to tighten control over information. Over the past year, authorities have imposed restrictions on visual media in several provinces and expanded enforcement of regulations issued by the Taliban Ministry
8am: Several government employees under Taliban control say the group has imposed a ban on smartphone use across all institutions. They add that the Taliban have warned that anyone defying the order will be referred to the group’s military court and have their smartphones destroyed. Employees say the measure was issued on the verbal order
8am: The Taliban’s Central Fatwa Council (the Fatwa Council), acting on orders from Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, has prepared a treatise titled “The Effects of Obedience in Strengthening the Islamic System” and distributed it widely among the public and the group’s fighters. The Taliban stated that the work was produced for “the general public”
Khaama: Local sources in Bamyan say Taliban authorities shut down the Baran Health Sciences Institute, detained several staff members and sealed the institute for a second time. Sources said one of the institute’s founders, administrative officials and several teachers were detained during the raid earlier this week. Some staff members were later released, but the
Afghanistan International: According to the officials, participants at the meeting were informed that, on the orders of Mullah Abdul Ahad Fazli, public access to the internet would be further restricted and residential fibre-optic internet services disconnected. One company official said the move could have serious economic consequences. “If this order is implemented, not only will
Khaama: Taliban Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said on Friday in Khost province that a government ruling through “fear and force” cannot be considered legitimate, implicitly acknowledging the use of intimidation by the Taliban. Speaking to a crowd of locals, Haqqani stressed that leaders should not humiliate or condemn citizens, and that a government should foster
By Zhakfar Ahmadi Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 11, 2025 The Afghan Taliban’s dreaded morality police have arrested four young men for dressing like characters from the British TV series Peaky Blinders. The men were detained in the western Afghan city of Herat this week. The Taliban accused them of “promoting alien culture” after photos went
Amu: Taliban have effectively dismantled media freedom in Afghanistan since seizing power in August 2021, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday, citing systematic surveillance, censorship, arbitrary detentions and torture of journalists, with women in the media bearing the brunt of the crackdown. The 2025 report, based on dozens of interviews with journalists
Afghanistan International: The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education has banned professors and administrative staff below grade four from using smartphones at universities, citing concerns that mobile phone use “causes distraction and complicates work.” Click here to read more (external link).