Taliban militants ordered mobile operators last week to switch off their networks from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m.. Taleban say U.S. and NATO forces track the them through their phone signals and then launch attacks on their hiding places.

Many military operations against Taliban leaders have been conducted by the U.S.-led forces at night.

But many Afghans, including politicians, dismiss the Taliban’s justification for attacking the mobile phone sector as “meaningless.”

Legislator Shurkiya Barekzai says that by attacking the towers the Taliban wants to damage Afghanistan’s economy. She says the Taliban claims that coalition and Afghan forces tracking their forces via mobile signals “does not make any sense.”

A base station costs about $100,000 and a phone mast about $250,000.

The mobile towers that came under attack belonged to the Roshan and Areeba companies.