Crypto News: The Taliban has logged on

Hi, this is Jamie in Singapore and Eltaf in New Delhi. Since taking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban is expanding internet in the country—with restrictions. But first...

Today's must-reads:

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A year after reclaiming power in Afghanistan, the Taliban is showing that it doesn't mind the internet so much after all.

The Taliban, which previously blocked web access to thwart what it called immorality and obscenity, recently said it's upgrading Afghanistan's internet networks to 4G, a shift that marks the group's embrace of a Western technology that it has long railed against.

Now, a few areas in the capital are connected to 4G, and the Taliban expects to work with a network provider to expand that connectivity to remote areas of the country, Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban's acting minister of telecommunications and information technology, told Bloomberg. Most Afghans with internet access now rely on 2G technology.

The fundamentalist Islamic group was already been active on Meta Platforms Inc.'s WhatsApp. It previously used social media to broadcast anti-US propaganda and now relies on WhatsApp and Twitter to publish government orders and press releases.

The group's main spokesman used Twitter to inform his 660,000 followers that women are ordered to cover themselves from head to toe, for instance.

"They're more media savvy than they used to be and they've developed a dependency on these services as well, so it may no longer be in their interests to disconnect," says Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at San Francisco-based network monitoring firm Kentik. "As much as they might aspire to go back to a medieval world, WhatsApp comes in handy."

A quarter of Afghanistan's 38 million people connect to the internet from their mobile phones, according to figures provided to Bloomberg by the Taliban.

While Afghans try to find Wi-Fi, the government is learning to use the web like a blunt instrument.

Last year, Taliban officials suspended connectivity across Kabul to stop Afghans from organizing protests during their capture of the capital. In Afghanistan's northeast, the Taliban also cut the internet to deter online recruitment by opposing forces.

Activists and human rights organizations say there continue to be targeted shutdowns to stifle protest and restrict media reporting on violations in regions including Balkhab, Andarab and Panjshir. The Taliban admits it blocked 23 million "immoral" websites, which it says broadcast un-Islamic content.

Connectivity in Afghanistan has always been spotty and maintenance costs money. Haqqani told reporters that the government had collected 6.8 billion Afghanis ($77 million) in taxes from internet and mobile phone operators this year. The government also announced that it has ordered operators to cut the prices they're charging users. That's because Afghans have found that while prices have gone up, service has dwindled.

Ahmadullah Wali, who's studying for a BA in Economics at Kabul University, says he can search for most anything he wants, but "whether we have good speed or bad depends on the location."

"The only issue now is higher internet prices," he said.

He also knows the Taliban is watching social media.

"People are now more cautious than ever before when posting online," he says, adding that users have deleted anti-Taliban posts and now use aliases to cloak their identity.

Access Now, a nonprofit that advocates for digital rights, notes that even if the average Afghan has access to Google, the fear of surveillance or the ability of the Taliban to be able to monitor browser history is stunting freedom.

Activists, journalists and human rights workers "have consistently shared that their mobile phones are routinely checked by the Taliban to gather sensitive information," says Namrata Maheshwari, Asia Pacific Policy Counsel at Access Now.

"There is a very real link between digital safety and physical safety," she said. —Jamie Tarabay and Eltaf Najafizada

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Join Bloomberg Live in London for the Bloomberg Technology Summit on Sept. 28 to see Europe's business leaders, policymakers, entrepreneurs and investors explain how they're adapting to this new environment—and discuss solution-based strategies.