The Taliban is doing the absolute most to keep the streets quiet, officially ordering a massive ban on smartphones for all government workers. According to a new directive straight from their military courts, nobody is safe from the rule—whether you are "high rank, low rank, general mujahideen, or service staff." If the authorities catch you holding a smartphone, they are going to smash your device on the spot and hit you with legal and Sharia punishments. The only way you’re getting a pass is if you get a hand-signed note from the big boss himself, supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

The wild part is how they announced it. Video leaked online showing a Taliban official reading the actual ban order directly off his own smartphone, while another dude stands next to him literally busting up mobile phones. You can't even make this up—using the exact technology you’re banning to tell everyone else they can’t have it is pure hypocrisy, but that’s how they are playing it.

Even though the official paperwork says the ban is just for government employees, sources on the ground say the rollout is completely messy and varies from block to block. In some cities and provinces, local officers are taking things into their own hands, expanding the ban to regular civilians, women, medical workers, schoolteachers, and students. Analysts are saying this is basically a test run to see if they can get away with a total, country-wide ban on the internet and mobile communication.

This isn't their first time trying to completely cut people off from the digital world. Back in September, the regime pulled a massive power move and shut down the entire country's internet for two whole days. They tried to claim they did it to "prevent immorality" and stop people from looking at porn, but the whole thing was done with zero planning, and it immediately blew up in their faces.

That two-day blackout had the whole country in a chokehold. The private sector was losing money fast, the banking system completely froze, emergency services went dark, and even planes couldn't fly right. It got so bad that even the Taliban's own security teams and the supreme leader's office couldn't get their work done because they didn't have a signal. Once they realized they had completely messed up their own operations, they had to swallow their pride and turn the internet back on.

The real reason they are panicking about smartphones right now comes down to what happened in the western city of Herat. A while back, serious protests jumped off in the streets after the Taliban started locking up women and girls for "improper hijab." During the chaos, Taliban forces opened fire on the crowd and ended up killing at least two people.