Taliban destroys telecom towers in northern Jawzjan province

Monitoring Desk

DARZAB: Taliban has destroyed three telecom towers in Darzab district of northern Jawzjan province, officials said.

Taliban militants took over Darzab, a district in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan on Tuesday, they put on fire and destroyed three telecom towers following the occupancy of the area, Maroof Azar, a spokesperson to Jawzjan governor told media.

The telecom towers destroyed by Taliban belong to three private telecommunication firms including Roshan, MTN and Etisalat, Azar said.

According to Azar, the residence of Darsab and Ghos Tapa districts of Jawzjan province have lost mobile connections as a result of this incident.

“Taliban were going to destroy a ‘public hospital’ in Darzab too, which was avoided due to the mediation of elders of Darzab.”, Maroof Azar said.

Taliban took over the full control of Darzab district on Tuesday, the ANSDF drew back peacefully on the demand of Darzab districts who were tired of fighting between the two parties in the last 90 days.

However, Afghanistan Ministry of Defense (MOD) had said in a statement that Afghan forces have changed their base from ‘Antan Hill’ to another location due to cold weather condition.

This comes as another report earlier suggested that MTN, a privately registered telecom service provider in Afghanistan and part of the Global MTN, the largest South African Telecom firm has been accused of bribing Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorist groups in Afghanistan for safeguarding their ‘transmission towers’.

The allegation is under review of a federal court in the United States.

MTN says it is reviewing allegations that it paid protection money to militant Islamist groups in Afghanistan.

“It remains of the view that it conducts its business in a “responsible and compliant manner in all its territories”, MTN has said. (Khaama Press)