紐時賞析／受制於美國制裁 神學士政權WhatsApp溝通網被打亂

The Taliban Government Runs on WhatsApp. There’s Just One Problem.

美國制裁打亂神學士政權WhatsApp溝通網

The team of Taliban security officers assembled on the outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital to prepare for a raid on an Islamic State group hideout.

神學士政權安全人員團隊在阿富汗首都市郊集結，準備對一個伊斯蘭國集團藏身處發動突襲。

The leader, Habib Rahman Inqayad, scrambled to get the exact location of their target. He grabbed his colleagues’ phones and called their superiors, who insisted they had sent him the location pin of the target to his WhatsApp.

團隊領袖伊卡亞德急著要掌握他們目標的確切位置。他一把抓過同僚手機，撥電話給他們的上級，而上級堅稱已將目標位置定位點透過WhatsApp傳給他了。

But WhatsApp had blocked his account to comply with U.S. sanctions.

然而，WhatsApp為了遵守美國制裁，已將他的帳戶封鎖。

“The only way we communicate is WhatsApp — and I didn’t have access,” said Inqayad, 25, whom The New York Times has followed since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

25歲的伊卡亞德表示：「我們唯一溝通方式就是WhatsApp，而我無法使用」。神學士2021年8月奪權以來，紐約時報就持續追蹤採訪他。

In recent months, complaints from Taliban officials, police and soldiers of their WhatsApp accounts being banned or temporarily deactivated have become widespread, disruptions that have illuminated how the messaging platform has become a backbone of the Taliban’s nascent government. Those interruptions also underscore the far-reaching consequences of international sanctions on a government that has become among the most isolated in the world.

近幾個月來，神學士政權官員、警察和軍人普遍抱怨他們的WhatsApp帳戶遭禁用或暫時停用；這波混亂顯示這款通訊平台如何成為神學士新生政府的支柱。那些干擾也凸顯出，國際制裁對這個已成為世界上最受孤立政府的深遠影響。

The United States has long criminalized any form of support for the Taliban. Consequently, WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, scans group names, descriptions and group profile photos on the messaging app to identify users among the Taliban and block their accounts, according to a spokesperson for the company.

美國長久以來將任何形式支援神學士視為犯罪。因此，根據該公司發言人指出，臉書旗下的WhatsApp會在這款通訊應用程式上，掃視群組的名稱、描述與群組的檔案相片，辨識出隸屬神學士的用戶並且封鎖他們的帳戶。

The policy has been in place since U.S. sanctions were enacted more than two decades ago.

20年多前美國制裁實施之後，這項政策就已存在。

But over the past two years, the Taliban’s reliance on WhatsApp has become even more far-reaching as smartphone use has proliferated and 4G networks have improved across Afghanistan with the end of the U.S.-led war. As the Taliban have consolidated control and settled into governance, the inner bureaucratic workings of their administration have also become more organized — with WhatsApp central to their official communications.

但過去2年來，因為智慧手機使用增長，加上美國主導的戰爭結束，4G網路在阿富汗各地都有所改善，神學士對於WhatsApp的依賴也變得更加廣泛深遠。時值神學士鞏固其控制並且逐步熟絡治理體制，其內部的行政官僚運作亦漸趨有序——而WhatsApp正是他們官方溝通的核心。

The cat-and-mouse game of shutting down accounts has become a headache for officials in the Taliban administration — an almost daily reminder that the government they lead is all but shunned on the world stage.

這類宛如貓捉老鼠遊戲的帳戶停用，讓神學士政府官員們頭痛，也幾乎每天都在提醒，他們所領導的政府被屏除於世界舞台。

Many who have had their accounts shut down have found workarounds, buying new SIM cards and opening new accounts, and turned the ban more into a game of Whac-A-Mole.

許多帳戶遭關閉的人找到變通辦法，會去購買新的SIM卡並開設新帳戶，讓禁用變得更是像一場打地鼠遊戲。

文／Christina Goldbaum, Safiullah Padshah　譯／高詣軒

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【高詣軒】

通訊軟體已成為公、私部門必備溝通工具，然而多數通訊平台由美國企業掌握，這讓與華府作對的政權很頭大。報導首先描述神學士官兵scramble找尋敵人，這個字在本文指趕著做某事：Companies are scrambling to recruit skilled workers.或Tensions are rising as diplomats scramble to prevent a war.

神學士政權在國際上遭到shunned。shun和avoid、evade皆有閃躲或躲避之意，但avoid常用在避免危險或困難，evade多指有心機地閃避對己不利的事，shun則常指出於反感或厭惡的慣性躲避：She shuns parties and social events.

上有制裁、下有對策（workaround）。"work around"兩字拆開可當動詞片語，指「應變」某問題，合起來為名詞「變通辦法」，與solution的差別在workaround是權變，「撇步」，不是直球對決，而是以取巧方式解決問題。There's also a little-known workaround that won't cost you a penny.