“MTN is reviewing the details of the report and is consulting its advisers but remains of the view that it conducts its business in a responsible and compliant manner in all its territories and so intends to defend its position where necessary,” said the company via Sens on Monday.

The lawsuit claims that MTN paid protection money to the Taliban in Afghanistan to prevent its network infrastructure from being targeted and destroyed. This financial support to the US-designated terrorist organisation, say the papers, was in part paid using money MTN borrowed from a subsidiary of the World Bank based in the US.

The lawsuit goes further to say MTN Afghanistan actively collaborated with the Taliban by agreeing to switch off its network at night at the request of the insurgents, to prevent US forces from tracking terrorists during capture-and-kill missions. This was also a move designed to avoid intelligence on insurgents from informants flowing to coalition forces.

The US invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001 and overthrew the Taliban government, which it accused of harbouring terrorists linked to the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The lawsuit is brought by more than 100 families of US soldiers killed by the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. The papers include details of how each soldier was killed, including methods ranging from improvised explosive devices to suicide bombings and more conventional forms of ambush. (BusinessDay SA)