Taliban ordered a nationwide shutdown of communications, cutting off internet and telecom services across Afghanistan. On Monday, connectivity collapsed to less than one per cent of normal levels, according to Netblocks, a global internet watchdog, which said the shutdown amounted to “a comprehensive, or total blackout.”

The blackout comes after weeks of restrictions. Earlier this month, Taliban officials began cutting fibre optic connections in several provinces, severely limiting high-speed internet. On September 16, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid 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 said in a social media post at the time.

AFP reported it lost all contact with its Kabul bureau at 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,” the official told AFP.

“There isn’t any other way or system to communicate… the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected,” the official added.

BLACKOUT TO HIT ESSENTIAL SERVICES

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.

Since reclaiming power in August 2021, the Taliban have enforced sweeping social restrictions, particularly on women, while tightening controls on the media and civil society. But this is the first time they have imposed a nationwide communications shutdown.

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With inputs from agencies