Taliban threatens operators over coverage shutdown

In Afghanistan, the Taliban has decided to go after a new target: mobile phone companies. The Associated Press is reporting that militants have threatened to blow up mobile phone base stations unless operators switch off mobile phone signals every night between 5pm and 3 am.

A spokesman for the Taliban told AP that it was making the demands to stop the American military gathering intelligence on its whereabouts and gave the mobile phone companies a three day window before the Taliban “will target their towers and offices”. Apparently, none of the countries mobile operators have agreed to their demand for a shutdown.

Is this a tacit admission not only that the US military is using cell signals to track down insurgents, but also that the Taliban uses mobiles?