Either your phone plays Taliban ringtones or you die

Purchasers don’t necessarily want their phones to trill with the auto-tuned chant below, or with the dulcet melodies of “Suicide Bomber.” (Sample translated lyric: “You burned like a moth, young hero.”) They worry they won’t be safe on the roads if they can’t play the track for the Taliban when the insurgents stop their vehicles, checking for loyalty. Travelers approaching Taliban checkpoints often pop their real SIM cards out and replace them with ones containing insurgent-produced jingles.

“If they search your phone and see your videos and songs, they will think you are their sympathizer,” a 35-year-old Kabul grocer, Haji Mohammad Khan, explains to the Wall Street Journal. “On occasion, it can save your life.”