Taliban Troubled by US WhatsApp Ban... "Government Functions Paralyzed"

US Blocks WhatsApp as Sanction Tool Against Taliban
Taliban, Dependent on WhatsApp, Faces Communication Difficulties

The Islamic militant group Taliban in Afghanistan has found itself in a difficult situation due to smartphones. This is because they can no longer use the American messenger app 'Whatsapp,' which was a major means of communication.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 17th (local time) that "Whatsapp, pressured by the U.S. government, has joined sanctions against the Taliban, causing communication difficulties for the Taliban."

Since early this year, Whatsapp has blocked accounts of key figures affiliated with the Taliban government, including military officers, police, and major officials. This is because the Taliban is under U.S. government sanctions for human rights abuses and oppression of women.

Whatsapp explained, "We identify Taliban users and block accounts based on group names and profile pictures."

This is not the first time sanctions against the Taliban have been enforced through online blocking attacks. In August 2021, five websites used by the Taliban to deliver official messages to internal and external personnel were also restricted.

Moreover, over the past two years, as 4G communication networks have improved and smartphone usage has surged in Afghanistan, the effectiveness of these sanctions has begun to increase.

Whatsapp, owned by Meta, the operator of Facebook, allows text messaging, internet calls, and multimedia transmission. It is known for stable call quality and fast speed. More than 70% of the Afghan population uses Whatsapp to contact each other and communicate with relatives and acquaintances abroad.

Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan
Photo by AP Yonhap News>

Because of this, the Taliban government has relied almost entirely on Whatsapp as an official communication tool, even resorting to hacking satellite internet communication networks. However, with the U.S. imposing its own sanctions and engaging in international cooperation with major Western countries, using Whatsapp has become difficult.

Taliban government officials are trying to overcome the crisis by creating new accounts when existing ones are blocked by Whatsapp, but Whatsapp finds and blocks these new accounts each time.

The NYT stated, "For Meta, which manages the entire digital communication data, finding a second or third account of the same person is a very easy task."

An official from a region in Afghanistan complained, "There is a group chat on Whatsapp with 50 people, but 40 to 45 have been blocked," adding, "I was also blocked, resulting in the loss of a significant amount of data."

Shar Ahmed Burhani, police spokesperson for Baghlan region in northern Afghanistan, said, "Whatsapp is almost everything to me," and added, "All work is done through Whatsapp, so its blocking is equivalent to the complete suspension of administrative and police functions."

He continued, "If there is no Whatsapp, our government and non-governmental work will be paralyzed," and said, "The U.S. sanctions that make it impossible to use even a single app have gone too far."

The NYT analyzed, "The U.S. is pressuring the Taliban government in a very easy way even without large-scale economic sanctions," and "this is also a result of the Taliban regime's isolation from the international community." Currently, no country in the world officially recognizes the Taliban as a government.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.