Iphones in Afghanistan?

From the Al-Jazeera Web site: http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/02/200928133747620542.html

Mullah Salaam Zaif*, a former member of the Taliban in Afghanistan, lives under house arrest at his home in Kabul. During a recent interview by the Reuters news service, Zaif produced an iPhone from his pocket and went to town.

A quotation from the Al-Jazeera posting explains why this is newsworthy: "During Taliban rule, which ended when the US and its allies rolled in and took control of Kabul in 2001, the leadership had banned just about anything associated with modern technology.

There were no televisions, no computers, no radios, no music and though iPhones were not around back then, they most certainly would not have been allowed."

When asked about his iPhone, Zaif responded as most people who own the device would: "I'm addicted," he said, "the internet is great on this, very fast."

It is certainly interesting that someone who might be considered an "enemy" of the U.S. would be so jazzed about using technologies that come from his former rival.

What might foreign acceptance of U.S. technologies signal for U.S. foreign relations? Is the iPhone awesome enough to win the hearts and minds of U.S. enemies around the world? What do y'all think?

Mr. Davidson


*Mullah Salaam Zaif is not this man's three-part name. Mullah is in fact a title of some kind. A token goes to the first person who comments or makes a new post explaining (correctly) what a mullah is.