Stuck in a pre-industrial age  During the war in Afghanistan,
when the rebels used two-way radios and landlines did not work,
satellite phones were key for reporters and warlords, writes Ian
Traynor  The offer was too good to turn down even if Guardian
accountants were bound to raise their eyebrows when the bills
came in.  After several weeks of sleeping bags in a house in
Afghanistan's Panjshir valley with no hot water and a mud
latrine at the end of the garden shared by scores of
journalists, we were dirty and tired.  Commander Basir of the
Salang invited us for a hot shower and dinner at his villa.
"Don't forget to bring your satellite phone," he quipped merrily
after giving us directions.  The Taliban were still hanging on
to power in September last year. Basir, now wearing a proper
uniform and installed in the defence ministry in Kabul, was a
rebel warlord marshalling the anti-Taliban resistance in the
Salang mountains north of the capital.  Two-way radios were the
main mode of communication for the rebe