The towers and offices of mobile phone operators in Afghanistan are being pressured to shut down operations at night by the Taliban. The former rulers of Afghanistan and current insurgent group held "talks" with the four major mobile companies in Afghanistan today, and gave them three days to go dark for 14 hours per day—or else.

The reason for the threat is the Taliban's belief that American soldiers and rebels within Afghanistan are using mobile phones to track down remaining Taliban members. "Since the occupying forces stationed in Afghanistan usually at night use mobile phones for espionage to track down the mujahideen, the Islamic Emirate gave a three-day ultimatum to all mobile phone firms to switch off their phones from five in the afternoon until seven in the morning," Taliban spokesperson Qari Mohammad Yousuf told Reuters, ironically via mobile phone (and presumably during daylight).

Three of the four companies receiving the ultimatum—Roshan, Areeba, and Etisalat—are not based in Afghanistan, with the fourth being the Afghan Wireless Communication Company. They are considered major investors in the country's economy, as there are still almost no other means of outside communication since the Taliban's fall in 2001. If they give in to the Taliban's threat, communications within the country would be severely disrupted due to the lack of landlines.

This isn't the first time the Taliban has challenged mobile operators in Afghanistan. In the past, the group has accused the phone companies of actively working with US troops as well as NATO, although not much has happened as a result of those threats. Still, it's no doubt unsettling to the mobile operators to know that they may be targeted for continuing with business as usual—especially since the US is reportedly using satellites and not mobile phone operators for tracking.