Taliban authorities in Afghanistan have ordered government employees, judges, police and members of the military to stop using smartphones under a directive that took effect June 16. The order threatens violators with confiscation, destruction of their devices and punishment (which are not specified).

The use of what are known as feature phones — with calling and texting options but no touch screen and no photo or recording capabilities — is permitted.

The ban does not yet apply to private phone ownership by ordinary Afghan civilians. But in some provinces, restrictions have already moved beyond government offices and into hospitals, schools and universities, raising fears that the policy could become an early test for broader limits on public smartphone use.

The restrictions began as a verbal order from Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and were later formalized in a military court directive circulated to court heads, police commanders and intelligence chiefs across the country’s eight administrative zones. The directive says anyone caught using a smartphone will have the device smashed and face “legal and sharia punishment.” Exemptions require a written decree from Akhundzada himself. A separate court order covers “all officials of the military and civilian institutions, including judges.”

The Taliban have also created monitoring lists recording employees’ names, positions, workplaces, mobile carriers and phone numbers. Security officials have instructed members to destroy their own smartphones and submit proof on a designated form.

At Kabul University, the leadership council ordered a complete smartphone ban for professors, staff and students effective June 21. The decision was announced at an academic council meeting where members were not permitted to ask questions. At Herat University, notices posted at the entrance warn that no one may enter with a smartphone, and the restriction extends into student dormitories, where Wi-Fi service has also been suspended. In Baghlan province, students carrying smartphones have been turned away at the university gate.

In Kandahar, the provincial Education Department said its own ban on students and teachers was rooted in a “sharia perspective” and warned that smartphones risked “the destruction of the future generation.” The Taliban’s higher education minister has called smartphones “one of the three main enemies of Muslims” and last October restricted their use on university premises to only the most senior administrators.

The timing of the order followed protests in Herat in early June, after Taliban forces arrested women and girls accused of “improper hijab” — not meeting the dress code of covering the face and body in the prescribed manner and not wearing makeup. Witnesses said Taliban forces opened fire on demonstrators, killing at least one person. Video of the shooting spread online before the Taliban could contain it.

The Taliban administration did not respond to a request for comment.

Fatima Faizi, NPR