KABUL: The Taliban’s expanding restrictions on smartphones are cutting Afghans off from healthcare, education and emergency communication, raising fears that the group is moving toward broader control over public access to digital tools, according to an NPR report.
The ban, which took effect on June 16, formally applies to government employees, judges, police and military personnel. Violators risk having their devices confiscated or smashed, while basic feature phones remain permitted.
But reports from across Afghanistan suggest the restrictions have already spread beyond government offices into universities, schools, hospitals and dormitories.
At Kabul University, smartphones have been banned for professors, staff and students. At Herat University, notices at the entrance warn students not to bring smartphones, while Wi-Fi has been suspended in dormitories.
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Students say the ban has disrupted learning. Many rely on phones to photograph lessons, download books, receive assignments, use dictionaries and contact teachers. For women and girls barred from formal education, smartphones have become one of the few remaining ways to study privately.
The restrictions are also affecting healthcare. In Ghazni province, a midwife serving 10 villages said she stopped using her smartphone out of fear. She previously relied on photos and messages from mothers to assess newborn illnesses and urgent medical cases.
Afghans also use smartphones to document abuse, arrange transport to clinics, ask relatives for financial help and alert the public when institutions fail them.
Rights observers say this is precisely why smartphones worry the Taliban: they allow information to move beyond official control.
The latest restrictions have turned one of Afghanistan’s most important survival tools into another contested space under Taliban rule.
