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Apple's iPhone and Afghanistan's Taliban
It has been reported that Mullah Zaif, the Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan is using an Apple iPhone in Afghanistan. Hamish Macdonald, a reporter for the Al Jazeera TV channel is spending a month in Afghanistan reporting on life for people in the country - and reported on the unlikely development in Afghanistan's mobile phone market.
Interviewing him, Macdonald asked Zaif about his gadget. His response was pretty much the same as everyone who owns an iPhone. "I'm addicted," he said, "the internet is great on this, very fast."
Mullah Zaif held senior posts during the Taliban regime and was the ambassador to Pakistan when the US attacked Afghanistan in 2001. The Pakistanis later handed Zaif over to the US and he spent four years in Guantanamo. Though he is no longer a Taliban member, many see him as an unofficial mediator between the government and the Taliban.
Considering how the iPhone would have probably been banned in Afghanistan during the Taliban rule, the decision of a former Taliban ambassador to adopt such technology, and so readily has understandably caused quite a stir. Although insurgents do at times target mobile phone towers, claiming that the government and military use them to track mobile phone locations, the populace which is increasingly reliant on phone services are often found protecting the towers from attack.
It should be noted though, that mobile phones were not totally banned during the Taliban regime - as there was a very small GSM network in Kabul, although use was limited to government officials.
According to a Mobile World report, Afghanistan ended last September with nearly 7 million mobile phone users.
On the web: Al Jazeera - Mobile World
Posted to the site on 13th February 2009