MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Taliban authorities in northern Balkh province have ordered public sector employees to surrender their smartphones, marking the local implementation of a restrictive new decree issued by the regime’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. According to local sources speaking to the Hasht-e Subh newspaper on Sunday, June 14, administrative staff across various provincial departments received verbal directives over the weekend to hand over their devices, with several instances of immediate physical destruction already documented on-site.
The enforcement campaign is expected to formalize within the week through the deployment of a specialized oversight committee managed by the Taliban’s military court in Balkh. This tribunal will reportedly hold the authority to conduct workplace inspections and launch formal investigations against any state employee suspected of concealing a smartphone. The provincial crackdown follows the distribution of video footage across social media showing Taliban fighters publicly smashing their own devices in compliance with Akhundzada’s absolute ban, which seeks to eliminate smartphone usage within the security apparatus and civil service to restrict the flow of unauthorized information and digital media.
