Taliban Leader Bans Wi-Fi In an Afghan Province To 'Prevent Immorality' (apnews.com)
- Reference: 0179297948
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/25/09/16/2012254/taliban-leader-bans-wi-fi-in-an-afghan-province-to-prevent-immorality
- Source link: https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-internet-ban-balkh-0554049d724b8c8e0fb1e668ff34bbd2
> The Taliban leader [1]banned fibre optic internet in an Afghan province to "prevent immorality ," a spokesman for the administration said Tuesday. It's the first time a ban of this kind has been imposed since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, and leaves government offices, the private sector, public institutions, and homes in northern Balkh province without Wi-Fi internet. Mobile internet remains functional, however.
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> Haji Attaullah Zaid, a provincial government spokesman, said there was no longer cable internet access in Balkh by order of a "complete ban" from the leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. "This measure was taken to prevent immorality, and an alternative will be built within the country for necessities," Zaid told The Associated Press. He gave no further information, including why Balkh was chosen for the ban or if the shutdown would spread to other provinces.
[1] https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-internet-ban-balkh-0554049d724b8c8e0fb1e668ff34bbd2
Re: (Score:2)
An agreement with the Taliban? What's going to happen if Starlink is turned on over Afghanistan? They're going to complain to the UN? Give me a fucking break.
You can't ban WiFi! (Score:3, Insightful)
Might as well ban women altogether from public, set up patrols of males who round up women who go out alone and jail them, stop them from going to school, don't let women hold jobs without male approval, and in the rare moments they are allowed in public cover them up completely ......... wait..... oh.
Re: (Score:1)
Why are white liberal women so enamored with Islam?
Re: (Score:2)
4. Stupidity.
Re: (Score:1, Insightful)
4. it's really not a common thing at all and this is a construction of right wing media based on a few cringe twitch streamers and twitter posters
Re: (Score:1)
Secret beard fetishes are widespread?
Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)
You seem to defend Islam too. What is it about this religion that is attractive to you?
Re: They're not (Score:2)
Can we stop letting Muslims do that now ?
Stop using passive voice to excuse whomever from violence.
"Stop letting?"
Call a goddam spade a spade
Re: (Score:2)
> Why are white liberal women so enamored with Islam?
Where are you seeing this?
Re:You can't ban WiFi! (Score:4, Insightful)
They're not.
Liberals defend mainstream Muslims from attacks on their freedom of religion and from smears related to their religion. Because conservatives do not understand nuance they decide this means Liberals love Islam and think its the best and want to marry it, despite those same liberals doing the same for pretty much any religious group that's under attack, as Muslims were after 9/11. See also Gaza where RWNJs assume all liberals hate Jews and worship Allah, or think Hamas is great, because they don't want to see innocent Palestinians killed.
I've only come across one "liberal woman" who actually suggested life might be better, in some limited ways, in countries like Iran, and she was a nutcase, not representative of liberals in general.
You need to get out more and realize there's more to life than cheering or booing every identifiable group of people like a fucking football team.
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Liberals defend mainstream Muslims from attacks on their freedom of religion and from smears related to their religion.
Do liberals defend other religions that are smeared/attacked by Muslims? Honest question, because I've never seen that type of parity.
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Theres growing evidence from cognitive psychology that the primary differences between liberal and conservative people is rooted in thinking styles, and that these seem to have some degree of neurological basis. In essense liberals tend to be more pluralistic thinkers whereas conservatives are more polar thinkers. The end result is where liberals see differences and sort of go "Ok, thats interesting!" conservatives will see differences and go "Ok, thats dangerous!". This becomes particularly notable when e
Re: You can't ban WiFi! (Score:2)
You must be conservative, labeling people either or.
Re: You can't ban WiFi! (Score:1)
Three guesses as to the political affinities of the "scientists" publishing this research.
Oh wait, I don't have to guess. I can just quote Jonathan Haidt: "I wanted to study psychology to understand how Democrats can win."
Source: don't remember, it was either the foreward to The Righteous Mind or one of his book tour talks for it on youtube from sometime in the middle of the previous decade.
Re: (Score:1)
That's already been covered - hence this. They'll be following the Texas playbook next.
Should have banned TCP/IP (Score:2)
Why stop at WiFi?
Re:Should have banned TCP/IP (Score:5, Insightful)
> Why stop at WiFi?
The author doesn't know the differences between WiFi, fiber and the internet.
Re: (Score:2)
TFA mentions that mobile internet still works, though. Maybe the article was AI generated.
Re: Should have banned TCP/IP (Score:2)
aka "journalist"
Re: (Score:1)
>> Why stop at WiFi?
> The author doesn't know the differences between WiFi, fiber and the internet.
Agreed. People confusing "the internet" with "wifi" need to be educated, and the mistake highlights a major technology literacy problem.
The article states it's a ban on fiber internet, then also mentions that cable internet is also banned (later in the article).
Also, we get to hear about a random person's, unrelated, internet outage issue: "One Balkh resident noticed connectivity issues a few days ago at home and contacted his service provider, which said it was a technical issue that would be resolved."
Thi
Should have banned themselves (Score:2)
Agreed - if they really wanted to get rid of the most hideously immoral acts they'd need to ban themselves. The problem is their warped sense of morality, not this ban.
Re: (Score:2)
Being incompetent evil is so much worse than just being evil.
Re: (Score:1)
I call for a ban on beards on the grounds that it's freaking hot.
Let's ride this crazy train (Score:2)
So, if WiFi causes immorality (no, not immortality, stupid autocorrect)
AND
Musk runs the world's largest space-based wireless internet network
Does that make him the world's most immoral man?
Re: (Score:2)
> So, if WiFi causes immorality (no, not immortality, stupid autocorrect)
> AND
> Musk runs the world's largest space-based wireless internet network
> Does that make him the world's most immoral man?
No, it's just a coincidence that he's the world's most immoral man.
Re: (Score:2)
> No, it's just a coincidence that he's the world's most immoral man.
More immoral than the Taliban? I mean I know he and his DOGE goons went around shutting down parts of the US government but they did it by firing people, not shooting and beheading them.
Re: (Score:2)
> Starlink isn't WiFi.
I doubt the Taliban would make the distinction, and I'm not going to ask them since people like me tend to lose important body parts just for setting foot in places they control.
Re: Let's ride this crazy train (Score:2)
No, silly. He's the worst for other reasons. Inciting violence at rallies, for instance.
How to cause a revolution... (Score:2)
Block the Internet? That blocks access to PornHub. You have to be very brave or very stupid to invite the backlash for that decision.
Re: (Score:2)
> That blocks access to PornHub. You have to be very brave or very stupid to invite the backlash for that decision.
It helps to not have a democracy, then you can just behead the dissenters as radical enemies of the state.
Re: (Score:2)
True, but if you are going to kill all the dissenters in this case you're going to have to get everyone, like this: [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BzSTQCl_c
Re: How to cause a revolution... (Score:2)
Oh, this for YOU.
Not ME.
Taliban still love hookers and blackjack, what're you crazy?!
Re: (Score:2)
The country had their revolution. The Taliban was embraced the second the USA pulled out.
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Considering that most fully practicing Muslims consider watching porn just as evil as eating pork, I don't think there are going to be too many people upset.
I read it... (Score:2)
to ban immortality at first.. *giggles*. Seems like the same outcome in either case.
huh (Score:2)
wifi != fiber wtf over
Re: (Score:2)
Because pointing out some minor difference in religions that all basically came from the same area of the world has become something of a traditional reason for conflict throughout most of human history.
It's like if the little puppets on It's a Small World started shooting at each other because one group had more twirling ducks than the other.
Re: (Score:1)
> Why pick on nutty muslims saying their gods tell them to do stupid shit when christians / jews / hindus all do the same.
How many religions call for removing internet access? Even the Amish don't do that any more. Or at least the Amish around here don't. The Amish gave up on trying to keep their followers from having cell phones and internet access because they still needed to interface with the rest of the world for buying and selling basic stuff. They did fine with mail order from the Sears catalog and such up until the 1990s, perhaps a bit later, then with so much moving to online sales and electronic payment it was al
Re: (Score:2)
> How many religions call for removing internet access? Even the Amish don't do that any more. Or at least the Amish around here don't.
Rules vary between Amish communities, and when internet access is allowed it's generally limited to business purposes. Also, some Mennonite sects do allow the use of technology and they're frequently mistaken by outsiders as being Amish.
Re: (Score:2)
We don't understand how the universe began but I don't need to take it on faith that it did.
Cogito ergo sum
Re: (Score:2)
The latest thinking is that the universe never "began", it has always been in existence. Maybe not in this particular form, but it has always existed.
In other words, there never was a "time" when there was "nothing". The universe, in whatever form(s) it may have taken, has always existed.
And no, pointing to or complaining about the problem of an "infinite regress" won't make any difference.
1) Matter and energy can't be created or destroyed, right? They can only change form, right?
2) If they can't be created
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Absolutely, positively, 100%.
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Islam is basically Christianity minus the bat-shit crazy fairy-tales. But like Christianity, it's not about the written word, it's how policies for 'good deeds' are turned into actions. A big part of that, was the Christians mass-murdering Islams at the end of the Dark Ages, hence Fatwahs and every war is a religious war. (Christianity then pivoted towards bashing jews and women.)
What does the Taliban mean by "immoral"?
Listening to modern music (a popular luxury during the US occupation)? Reading We
Re: (Score:2)
> Islam is basically Christianity minus the bat-shit crazy fairy-tales.
Trust me, Islam has more than its share of bat-shit crazy fairy-tales. Almost all religions do.
Islam is still in its blood-thirsty "kill-'em-all" phase, right about where Christianity was 1000 or so years ago (Crusades, anyone?). Give Islam another 200 ~ 300 years and it'll start to become watered down and less frothy, more 'reasonable', etc etc. Still bat-shit crazy, but slightly less violent.
99 problems... (Score:2)
...but WiFi ain't one.
Hide your kids (Score:2)
Hide your wi-fi.
Have to wonder about "religious" "leaders" (Score:3)
Even the most casual study of divinity will show that almost all religions consider simply thinking of some things is a "sin". Almost all religions grant mankind free will, and the supreme being (call them what you may) "allows" for the "choice of sin".
So, by prohibiting "sin", they are, in effect, declaring themselves to be smarter than their Deity, who, in The Wisdom of that Deity, granted the ability to "sin".
I'm pretty sure that's not how that works.
Re: (Score:2)
> So, by prohibiting "sin", they are, in effect, declaring themselves to be smarter than their Deity, who, in The Wisdom of that Deity, granted the ability to "sin".
Saving people from themselves is a very, very common trope in religious adherence. In Christianity, there's the metaphor of a shepherd watching over his flock - implying that if left to their own devices, the sheep would get themselves into trouble or fall prey to predators. The sheep still have free will, but have to be prevented from allowing that free will to lead them astray from the flock.
Religion wouldn't have lasted as long as it did if they didn't come up with some explanation for nearly any hole
Re: (Score:2)
> Religion wouldn't have lasted as long as it did if they didn't come up with some explanation for nearly any hole you tried to poke in their beliefs.
And there's a reason the Inquisition burned books. Oddly, Ireland is about the only place where those that would burn the books were themselves burned in the dark ages. It's something Seneca wrote about before the dark ages and before the inquisition, off hand, can't recall the exact wording, but the conclusion is that some have a need to put others in charge of their lives so that they don't have to take responsibility for themselves and their outcomes. Sort of like the conservative meme that being poor is
A revolutionary theory (Score:2)
I suspect folks in Balkh were using the internet to shake things up.
Probably not the case here... (Score:2)
But the last time a government banned the internet, it got removed and replaced by someone that won a discord poll.
Balkh province (Score:3)
Damn, you guys are morons. Even the Taliban knows banning WiFi has NOTHING to do with immorality or Wi-Fi .. people in Balkh don't like the Taliban. It was, and is, a Northern Alliance stronghold (now called National Resistance Front - NRF ), they are annoying the heck out of the Taliban. Reference: [1]https://www.afintl.com/en/2025... [afintl.com] [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] [3]https://www.afintl.com/en/2025... [afintl.com] [4]https://moderndiplomacy.eu/202... [moderndiplomacy.eu]. This ban will make things a lot worse for the Taliban there, not better. The reason for the WiFi ban is because the Taliban thinks the attacks on them were coordinated through Wi-Fi and that the NRF use it to communicate.
[1] https://www.afintl.com/en/202509154474
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa9bncjV6Cs
[3] https://www.afintl.com/en/202505174677
[4] https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/03/21/the-talibans-internal-struggles-and-path-to-collapse/
Whew! (Score:2)
Thought he was going to ban wifey for a moment.
My guess is... (Score:2)
...the 'leader' still has his 'dancing boys'?
Re: (Score:1)
If I remember correctly, the Taliban began as a group protecting children from pedos. So it's possible but seems unlikely.
Back to the Stone Age (Score:2)
The government (controlled by the Mullahs or whatever) basically want the population living a Stone Age existence compared to the rest of the world. Poor, ignorant, and on the verge of starving will keep the peons in line.
I'm sure they'd also like to tattoo everyone at birth, or at least the women (so they'd know who they 'belonged' to).
I forget who said it, but the truth is that some cultures are better than others.
Did they infiltrate Michigan? (Score:2)
[1]https://www.wlns.com/capital-r... [wlns.com]
[1] https://www.wlns.com/capital-rundown/michigan-gop-lawmakers-propose-statewide-porn-ban-for-all-ages/
\o/ (Score:1)
Beard: No more goat pr0n for you.
Nearby goats: oh shit.
Can't stop the signal, Mal... (Score:3)
Yes, they could try to locate everyone that manages to use banned technology like this, but as commodity-level technology designed to be used by even unskilled individuals, they're not going to be able to stop people from using technology. All they'll be able to do is to punish them after finding them.
Re: (Score:3)
> Yes, they could try to locate everyone that manages to use banned technology like this, but as commodity-level technology designed to be used by even unskilled individuals, they're not going to be able to stop people from using technology. All they'll be able to do is to punish them after finding them.
Yup, 'cause the Taliban is known for giving up easily and being lenient to people breaking morality decrees. /s
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
If I'm reading the fine article correctly this isn't just about WiFi. They had a ban on cable internet in place already. A ban on fiber internet is being put in place, likely more of closing a loophole than anything really new as people could argue that fiber is not cable. The WiFi ban is likely also closing a loophole as people were signing up for WiFi service to their homes, using WiFi at cafes, or such so as to get faster internet than they could have with cellular. I'd expect the next step to restri
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Sure you can. It's pretty easy actually. You just use common signal tracking tools to find where it's coming from and kill anyone you find.
Once you give your country over to religious lunatics who are willing and able and happy to use violence anything becomes possible.
It would be nice if America had figured that out last year. Sometime before November.
Re: Can't stop the signal, Mal... (Score:2)
It doesn't take very many brutal, public executions to get people to stop.