Kabul: Afghanistan has been nearly cut-off from the communication grid after the Taliban ordered a nationwide shutdown of the internet in the country on Monday. Emergency services are likely to be affected in a country that is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes.
According to Netblocks, a global internet watchdog, connectivity collapsed to less than one per cent of normal levels on Monday. This amounts to “a comprehensive, or total blackout”, it was said.
Earlier this month, the Taliban began cutting fibre optic connections in several provinces, severely limiting high-speed internet. On September 16, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid had announced a complete ban on fibre optic services in the north, saying it was ordered “to prevent vice.”
“This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” Zaid had said in a social media post.
According to news agency AFP, it lost all contact with the Kabul bureau around 5:45 pm (local time). In the hours before the blackout, a government official confirmed the move, saying it would take effect gradually through the evening.
“It is going to be cut, it will happen gradually tonight. There are eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars. It will shut down,” AFP has quoted the official as saying.
“There isn’t any other way or system to communicate… the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected,” the official added.
The sweeping blackout has left essential services in limbo, with banks, trade networks and customs operations all heavily dependent on online systems.
Afghanistan’s 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network — largely built under former US-backed governments — had been a lifeline to integrate the country with the economy.
In 2024, Kabul officials under Taliban rule had called the network as a “priority” project to lift Afghanistan out of poverty and strengthen ties with the wider world. This is the first time the Taliban have imposed a nationwide communications shutdown.