Update · June 16, 2026

"Smartphones Are Haram": Taliban Bans Officials From Using Them. Civilians May Be Next.

The Taliban has now banned all government officials from using smartphones, whether in the workplace or at home. Officials found using a smartphone will reportedly be punished through military courts.

By The Griffinfly Desk

Last week the Taliban barred government officials and employees from using smartphones¹ in an order attributed to supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. Enforcement is unusually hard-edged, violations are routed to military courts, and the prohibition reportedly follows officials home,² covering personal use as well as the workplace.

The measure is now extending beyond the Taliban's own ranks. Smartphone use has reportedly been prohibited in several communities, following a familiar pattern of Taliban rule: local officials are instructed first, allowing the leadership to distance itself from the policy and deny responsibility while it takes effect. Once the groundwork is laid, a formal decree is issued, turning what began as an informal order into an official ban and making non-compliance punishable.

The shift did not come from nowhere. For years the Taliban have been narrowing smartphone access, and the earlier targets were its most controlled populations. The restrictions reach back furthest in Panjshir, the center of armed resistance to Taliban rule, where residents have been barred from carrying smartphones,⁵ and by May 2024 authorities had resumed collecting devices outright at checkpoints.⁶

Other groups followed. In December 2024 the Taliban banned women in Jalalabad from using smartphones and began confiscating their devices,⁴ with a source inside Afghanistan reporting the same in Mazar-i-Sharif. In 2025 the prohibition reached the universities, where the higher-education ministry barred teachers and students from smartphones and branded the devices one of the "three main enemies of Muslims."³

Taken together, the trajectory is consistent: a restriction first imposed on resistance provinces and specific groups has now reached both the government's own officials and, in places like Panjshir, Jalalabad, and Mazar-i-Sharif, the general public. There is still no formal nationwide ban on civilians owning smartphones, but the morality ministry in Kandahar has gone as far as declaring their use haram,⁴ and officials have signaled the prohibition could extend into private residences. The direction is unmistakable, and it is not far-fetched to expect the ban to expand to more provinces and communities in the near future. The Griffinfly is tracking the rollout and the enforcement mechanism, and will update this post as further details are confirmed.

Sources