Residents of western Farah province on Monday expressed deep concern over suspension of telecom services in the province, urging an early end to the inconvenience.
Around two months back, Taliban militants banned telecom services of Afghan Wireless, Roshan and MTN firms after the NATO Resolute Support Mission conducted operations against them in Farah.
For the past one month, the mentioned telecom firms have suspended their services across the province but later they got permission to offer services for three hours a day.
However, some residents of Farah claim they access telecom services only for a few minutes on a daily basis.
Farah residents also use the state-run Salaam telecom service but not a majority of them due to its limited coverage.
Ajab Gul, a trader in Farah City, the provincial capital, told Pajhwok Afghan News, “I have business in Herat and Mashad city of Iran, but since last two months our income is zero. If the government and Taliban do not pay attention to our problems, we will face further problems.”
He said two weeks back he went to Herat to make a call to Iran. He said if the situation in Farah continued, they will shift their businesses to Herat province soon.
A number of other residents held similar views and urged the government to address the issue at the earliest possible.
Ghulam Ghaus, acting telecommunication director, told Pajhwok that most of private telecom firms had towers in insecure areas, so they could not violate the Taliban ban.
He said efforts were underway to install more Salaam telecom masts across the province to resolve the problem.
However, the Taliban are yet to comment about the Farah telecom issue.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, had earlier admitted they forced telecom companies into switching off their antennas at night.
He said security forces used SIM cards during nighttime operations and therefore the Taliban had ordered telecom services to suspend services at night
