Late one night two months ago, a team of Taliban security officers assembled on the outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital to prepare for a raid on an Islamic State hide-out. He grabbed his colleagues’ phones and called their superiors, who insisted they had sent him the location pin of the target to his WhatsApp. There was just one problem: WhatsApp had blocked his account to comply with American sanctions. “The only way we communicate is WhatsApp — and I didn’t have access,” said Mr. Inqayad, 25, whom The New York Times has followed since the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Those interruptions also underscore the far-reaching consequences of international sanctions on a government that has become among the most isolated in the world.

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Persons: Habib Rahman Inqayad, WhatsApp, —, ”, Inqayad Organizations: New York Times Locations: Afghanistan’s, State