Copyright John T. Reed

The Taliban have decreed that private cell phone services in Afghanistan must shut down from dusk to dawn. The Afghan government has decreed they will stay on 24 hours a day.

They shut down from dusk to dawn.

This helps the Taliban do their dirty work at night, like plant IEDs. Afghans who might want to warn the good guys have to wait until dawn.

Is there a reason why we cannot operate aerial cell phone antennas from dusk to dawn? As far as I know, the Taliban have little or no anti-aircraft capability. If it can be done, and we accept staying there at all as a given. We should try offering cell phone service at night in the hottest Taliban areas.

It would accomplish two things:

• showing the populace that the Taliban can decree, but they cannot enforce
• enabling citizens to call the cops at night

Private cell phone service is one of the rare private business success stories in Afghanistan. If we a e going to be thereat all, we need to prevent two-bit thugs from running the country or any part of it. (I think we need to come home because we cannot afford to be there and it seems likely the American public will tire of it and all the deaths and expense will be for nothing like the war I was in in Vietnam.)

John T. Reed

John T. Reed military home page

Link to information about John T. Reed’s Succeeding book which, in part, relates lessons learned about succeeding in life from being in the military