Yunis Safi, a businessman in Kabul, knows very well the importance of showing off your phone if you want something done.

“In Afghanistan, your phone is your personality,” he said, smiling, a jewel-encrusted ring on each hand. One boasts an emerald, the other a fat Russian diamond. “When you go to a meeting with the government, the better your phone, the more they respect you.”

Safi runs a phone shop in the posh Shar-e-Naw neighbourhood. An armed guard stands outside. The iPhone 15 Pro Max adorns the shop shelves, retailing for $1,400. He has customers ready to part with this sum of money, which may come as a surprise to some given the country’s economic woes and more than half the population relying on humanitarian aid to survive.

Afghanistan’s finances were on shaky ground even before the Taliban seized power in 2021. The budget relied heavily on foreign aid and corruption was rife. The takeover sent Afghanistan’s economy into a tailspin, billions in international funds were frozen, and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country and took their money with them.

But, even amid difficult conditions, some businesses are making money out of Taliban rule.

Safi has tapped into a diverse consumer base — the ones hungry for the latest iPhone release and those happier with simple handsets, which make up the bulk of his sales and sell for between $20 and $200.

The Taliban used to attack phone towers and threaten telecom companies, accusing them of colluding with United States and other international forces in helping track insurgents’ movements through mobile phone signals. Now, they’re investing in the 4G mobile networks.

The Communications Ministry says 2 million new SIM cards have been issued in the past two years and that subscriber numbers are increasing. Ministry spokesperson Enayatullah Alokozai said the government was plowing $100 million into the telecom sector and had fully restored hundreds of towers.

There are 22.7 million active SIM cards in a country of 41 million people. Of these, 10 million are for voice calls and the rest are for mobile internet.

According to Trade Ministry figures, phone imports have risen. More than 1,584 tons of phones came into Afghanistan in 2022. Last year, it was 1,895 tons.

Safi said he has many Taliban customers and it’s the younger ones who prefer iPhones. “Of course they need smartphones. They use social media, they like making videos. The iPhone has better security than Samsung. The camera resolution, processor, memory are all better. Afghans use their smartphones like anyone else.”

Safi has the iPhone 15 Pro Max, wears an Apple Watch Ultra and owns three cars.

Business was bad immediately after the Taliban takeover but it’s improving, Safi said. “The people buying the new release iPhones are the ones with relatives abroad sending money to Afghanistan.”

Remittances are a lifeline, although they’re less than half of what they were before the Taliban took power and the banking sector collapsed.

At the raucous Shahzada Market in Kabul, hundreds of money exchangers clutch stacks of the local currency, the afghani, and noisily hawk their wares. They occupy every floor, stairwell, nook and cranny.

Abdul Rahman Zirak, a senior official at the money exchange market, estimates that $10 million changes hands daily. The diaspora sends mostly US dollars to families, who exchange it for the afghani.

There used to be more ways to send money to Afghanistan before the Taliban seized control. But there are no more links to SWIFT or international banking and that’s a major reason why business is brisk at the market, he said.

“The work of money exchangers has increased and strengthened,” Zirak said. “Money transfers come from Canada, the US, Europe, Australia, Arab nations and other neighbouring countries.”

Trade becomes hectic during the holidays. During the holy month of Ramazan, 20,000 people visited the market daily and it took more than 90 minutes to enter, he said.

“If the sanctions are removed and the assets are unfrozen, then maybe our business will decrease. But I don’t see that happening. Many don’t have bank accounts. Unemployment is high, so people send money to Afghanistan. Our business will be needed for years to come.”

Irfanullah Arif, who runs Haqqani Books, a specialist retailer of Islamic texts, is also upbeat about his fortunes. The majority of his customers are teachers and students at religious schools, or madrassas.

There are at least 20,000 madrassas in Afghanistan. The Taliban want to build more. Last year, the supreme leader reportedly ordered the recruitment of 100,000 madrassa teachers.

While Arif’s business suffered like everyone else’s in the chaotic aftermath of the takeover, there was another reason. “All the students left the madrassas and went to work for the (Taliban) government,” said Arif.

The Taliban’s push for religious education has given him some relief. Last year, he sold 25,000 textbooks.

But there’s a price to pay for success. Arif imports everything and the Taliban are laser-focused on collecting revenue, even on Islamic literature.

Arif pays a tax of 170 afghanis ($2.36) on a carton of 100 books, the shipping cost for which is 500 afghanis ($6.95). Taxes on his bookstore have tripled under Taliban rule.

“That’s why books are expensive in Afghanistan,” he sighed. “With the increase of madrassas, our trade has gone up, but so have the taxes.”

A majority of Americans believe that China uses TikTok to shape US public opinion, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted as Washington moves closer to potentially banning the Chinese-owned short-video app.

Some 58% of respondents to the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, agreed with a statement that the Chinese government uses TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, to “influence American public opinion.” Some 13% disagreed, and the rest were unsure or didn’t answer the question. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to see China as using the app to affect US opinions.

TikTok says it has spent more than $1.5 billion on data security efforts and would not share data on its 170 million US users with the Chinese government. The company told Congress last year that it does “not promote or remove content at the request of the Chinese government.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Joe Biden last week signed legislation giving ByteDance 270 days to divest TikTok’s US assets or face a ban.

TikTok has vowed to challenge the ban as a violation of the protections of free expression enshrined in the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and TikTok users are expected to again take legal action. A US judge in Montana in November blocked a state ban on TikTok, citing free-speech concerns.

The poll found 50% of Americans supported banning TikTok, while 32 opposed a ban and the rest were unsure. The poll only surveyed US adults and doesn’t reflect the views of people under age 18, who make up a significant portion of TikTok’s users in the United States. About six in 10 poll respondents aged 40 and older supported a ban, compared with about four in 10 aged 18-39.

The poll showed 46% of Americans agreed with a statement that China is using the app to “spy on everyday Americas,” an allegation Beijing has denied.

The app is ubiquitous in America. Even Biden’s re-election campaign is using it as a tool to win over voters ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election. Biden’s rival, Republican Donald Trump, who has criticized a potential ban and is the majority owner of the company that operates his social media app Truth Social, has not joined.

A majority of Americans, 60%, said it was inappropriate for U.S. political candidates to use TikTok to promote their campaigns.

Biden’s signing of the law sets a Jan. 19 deadline for a sale – one day before his term is set to expire – but he could extend the deadline by three months if he determines that ByteDance is making progress on divesting the app.

The poll, which was conducted online, gathered responses from 1,022 US adults nationwide and had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.

Elon Musk’s abrupt decision to lay off employees who ran Tesla’s electric vehicle charging business blindsided automakers gearing up to equip new EVs for customers to use the Tesla Supercharger network, industry officials and analysts said on Tuesday.

For now, General Motors, Ford and other automakers which struck deals last year to give customers access to the network said they are not changing their plans.

Tesla’s decision to open its network to rival EV manufacturers was hailed by US President Joe Biden, and opened the door for Tesla to get federal subsidies to expand the reach of its North American Charging Standard (NACS) system.

Musk’s decision to dismiss the head of the business, Rebecca Tinucci, and most or all of the staff that operated and maintained the system, according to two former employees and multiple postings on LinkedIn, left officials at automakers and Tesla suppliers uncertain about the future.

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

Musk subsequently said on X that the carmaker still plans to expand the Supercharger network, “just at a slower pace for new locations and more focus on 100% uptime and expansion of existing locations.”

Andres Pinter, co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, a supplier to the network, said, “As contractors for the Supercharger network, my team woke up to a sharp kick in the pants this morning.”

“Tesla has already been awarded money under the federal government’s NEVI program,” he said, referring to the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure formula program to provide funding to states to deploy EV charging networks. “There’s no way Mr Musk would walk away from effectively free money. It may be possible Mr. Musk will reconstitute the EV charger team in bigger, badder, more Muskian way.”

GM and Ford, in separate statements, said they are not changing plans to equip their EVs with connectors that will allow drivers of Chevrolet, Cadillac or Ford brand EVs to recharge at Tesla stations.
“We have nothing new to announce regarding our plans,” GM said. “We are continuing to monitor the situation regarding changes to the Supercharger team and the potential impacts with no further comments or updates at this time.”

‘NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE’
Some industry executives and analysts said Musk could have disbanded the existing Supercharger organization to build a leaner and less expensive team to run the operations.

However, Musk made clear in a call with analysts earlier this month that he is focused on opportunities in artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous robotaxis.

“In this layoff, nothing is off the table,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said. “Musk is trying to send a signal internally that the difficulty that Tesla is going through, they’re going to have to make tough decisions. … It shows there is serious cost focus.”

Tesla last week reported lower first-quarter profits and its first quarterly revenue decline since 2021. Even after a surge over the past week, Tesla shares are down about 26% for the year.

In China, the company’s second-biggest market to which Musk made a surprise weekend visit to discuss a potential roll-out of its advanced driver-assistance package, Tesla has more than 1,350 Supercharger stations, according to a list on its website.

With sales of Tesla’s EVs falling and profit margins under increasing pressure, Musk could be cutting Supercharger network spending to conserve cash for other projects with more growth potential, analysts said.

“Tesla is looking to right size its (capital spending) and operating expenses over the next couple of years as the company is in a slower growth phase,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said.

More traditional automakers might hang on to a business that promised steady revenue and near-continuous data exchanges with customers, analysts said. But Musk could take a Silicon Valley entrepreneur’s view that charging is a legacy business that could be streamlined or even divested.

“My guess is that now that the industry has adopted the NACS standard, he views Supercharging less as a strategic moat and more as a cost center,” said KC Boyce, a vice president at data analytics firm Escalent.

The Tesla Supercharger network could have significant value if Musk wanted to sell it, analysts said. Rival US charging networks have struggled with reliability problems and do not have the scale or prime locations Tesla has locked in.