referred to as afghan wireless is afghanistan s first wireless communications company . contents 1 history 1.1 operation foxden and links to american intelligence agencies 1.2 cecil and bentham s lawsuit 2 see also 3 external links 4 references history edit in 1998 afghan american telecommunications entrepreneur ehsan bayat won an exclusive license from afghanistan s taliban government to create afghan wireless as a joint venture with the country s ministry of communications which owns 20 % of the company . bayat received financial backing from british entrepreneurs stuart bentham and lord michael cecil . within a year afghan wireless had re enabled afghanistan s international country calling code and set up computerized telephone exchanges in the cities of kabul and kandahar replacing the outdated manual telephone switchboards that the country s telecommunications had long relied upon . 1 in june 1999 the taliban granted afghan wireless a 15 year monopoly on cell phone traffic in afghanistan 1 but after the taliban were overthrown by an american invasion in 2001 competing companies such as roshan started to appear . 2 afghan wireless was the first company licensed to provide gsm wireless service in afghanistan and launched its offering in april 2002 . by june 2008 afghan wireless reported to have 2 million subscribers across all 34 of afghanistan s provinces . 3 operation foxden and links to american intelligence agencies edit according to a report written in 2011 by vanity fair contributing editor david rose afghan wireless s founder ehsan bayat had acted as a confidential informant for the american federal bureau of investigation s joint terrorism task force since 1998 . 1 in a joint endeavor with the national security agency known as operation foxden the fbi intended to install equipment into afghan wireless s infrastructure that would allow american intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on cell phone calls in afghanistan . while the operation was in its planning stages president bill clinton signed executive order 13129 which prohibited us citizens from doing business with the taliban . in the interests of completing operation foxden the fbi and nsa aided bayat and his british partners in circumventing the executive order s ban by transferring ownership of afghan wireless to a shell company based in liechtenstein . 1 before the plan could be put in place the american central intelligence agency raised objections to operation foxden citing their traditional preeminence over the fbi in conducting foreign intelligence gathering . the operation was finally authorized to move forward on september 8 2001 but the september 11 attacks just three days later and the subsequent invasion of afghanistan rendered the project moot . 4 wikisource has original text related to this article executive order 13129 cecil and bentham s lawsuit edit in 2002 bayat offered to buy out co founders stuart bentham and lord michael cecil s shares in afghan wireless for what bentham termed a derisory sum . 5 cecil and bentham refused the offer and bayat filed suit against them . cecil and bentham counter sued for 400 million in a new york court alleging fraud deceit breach of contract and conspiracy 6 but the case was struck out after the cia intervened citing state secrets privilege . 4 cecil and bentham reopened the case in london but the plaintiffs claimed that they were barred from raising key aspects of their case due to the secrecy around operation foxden . 4 their lawsuit was finally dismissed in august 2011 . 7 see also edit list of companies of afghanistan external links edit official website references edit a b c d rose david september 2011 . 9 11 the tapping point . vanity fair . retrieved 2016 08 08 . shevory kristina 8 april 2016 . once a bright spot afghan telecoms face unsustainable losses . new york times . retrieved 2016 08 08 . nystedt dan 23 june 2008 . mobile phone use grows in afghanistan . pc world . retrieved 2016 08 08 . a b c cobain ian 27 march 2012 . us acted to conceal evidence of intelligence failure before 9 11 . the guardian . retrieved 2016 08 08 . rose david 7 april 2012 . robbed and ruined by a british court on the orders of the cia ... and we couldn t tell a soul . daily mail . retrieved 2016 08 08 . farmer ben 27 may 2009 . lord michael cecil sues afghan billionaire over 250m phone deal . the daily telegraph . retrieved 2016 08 08 . telephone systems international and ehsanollah bayat defeat us 400 million claim brought by lord michael cecil stuart bentham and alexander grinling bringing 9 years of litigation to a close press release . london pr newswire . paul hastings llp . 11 august 2011 . retrieved 2016 08 08 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title afghan wireless & oldid 733844834 categories telecommunications companies of afghanistanjoint venturesmobile phone companies of afghanistan navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in 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