For the past three days, Afghanistan has been grappling with a widespread internet outage, leaving millions in a state of growing anxiety and disconnection under the current four-year-old government.
Since Monday evening, when the blackout began, communication both within Afghanistan and with the outside world has become almost impossible for ordinary citizens, as reported by various internet monitoring groups like NetBlocks. Essential services such as banking and air travel have ground to a halt, and even international aid organizations, including the last remaining U.N. agencies in the country, are struggling to deliver much-needed assistance.
The Afghan government, led by the Taliban since 2021, has yet to issue any official statement regarding the situation. However, one diplomatic source, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the topic, indicated that the Taliban’s supreme leader, Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, reportedly ordered the shutdown to curb the spread of ‘vice.’ Both this official and an Afghan Foreign Ministry representative have suggested that the internet services will remain suspended indefinitely.
The government under the Taliban has progressively isolated Afghanistan since regaining power after the collapse of the U.S.-backed government. It has imposed a ban on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and implemented extensive restrictions on personal freedoms and communication, often citing religious justifications.
Such a prolonged, nationwide telecommunications shutdown is an unusual and severe measure, even for authoritarian states. While Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad imposed a similar blackout during the early days of the Syrian revolution in 2012, most governments typically confine internet disruptions to specific areas and for shorter durations.
The lack of internet has severely impacted aid operations and cash transfers to vulnerable communities outside the capital, Kabul, with no relief flights able to depart for two days, according to a U.N. official speaking anonymously due to security concerns. This official also noted that U.N. staff in Kabul cannot reach their colleagues in other Afghan regions, including local Afghan women who are already facing restrictions on entering U.N. compounds.
Communication with U.N. offices in key Afghan cities such as Jalalabad, Kandahar, and Herat is currently limited to satellite phones within U.N. facilities. Aid workers were already stretched thin, responding to the devastating 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan in late August, claiming over 1,400 lives, and managing the arrival of more than a million Afghan refugees from across the western border with Iran.
In response to the escalating crisis, the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on Tuesday to immediately restore internet and telecommunications services, highlighting the country’s dire economic state and ongoing humanitarian emergencies.