# So strange - Taliban blows up Afghan telecom towers that it needs to operate

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-strange-taliban-blows-up-afghan-telecom-towers-that-it-needs-to-operate/442984>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 27, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-strange-taliban-blows-up-afghan-telecom-towers-that-it-needs-to-operate/442984 "2008-03-27T22:55:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![onions\_without\_tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c37758/32.png) [@onions\_without\_tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onions_without_tears)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-strange-taliban-blows-up-afghan-telecom-towers-that-it-needs-to-operate/442984/1 "2008-03-27T22:55:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> [Telecoms accede to Taliban demand, stop cell service at night](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/26/MN0RVQUHQ.DTL)  
> Taliban attacks on telecom towers have prompted cell phone companies to shut down service across southern Afghanistan at night, angering a quarter-million customers who have no other telephones.
> 
> Even some Taliban fighters now regret the disruptions and are demanding that service be restored by the companies. Late last month, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said the U.S. military and NATO were using the fighters’ cell phone signals to track them and launch attacks. The Taliban then threatened to bomb cell towers if the wireless networks did not turn off service from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily.

How did they not realize they could just shut off their phones? And that turning off the system would stop their communications entirely?

And why didn’t the telecom companies simply point this out ?

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-strange-taliban-blows-up-afghan-telecom-towers-that-it-needs-to-operate/442984/2 "2008-03-27T23:01:41Z")

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Intelligence and logic are never the strong suits of people like the Taliban.