Taliban shuts down internet across Afghanistan
The Taliban ordered a phased nationwide shutdown of internet and telephone services on Monday, disabling Afghanistan’s roughly 9,350‑kilometer fiber‑optic network and collapsing online traffic to about 1% of normal levels. The move—attributed to directives by leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and justified by Afghan authorities as curbing 'immorality' online—has grounded commercial flights at Kabul airport, frozen banking operations, and prompted UNAMA to warn the blackout risks 'significant harm' and is crippling humanitarian and earthquake‑response efforts.
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🔍 Key Facts
- Afghanistan’s 9,350‑kilometer fiber‑optic network was reported disabled, with NetBlocks measuring nationwide traffic at ~1% of normal.
- Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered dismantling of fiber networks in many provinces and a phased cut that now affects 3G/4G and telephone services (reports say 2G may be left active temporarily).
- Operational impacts include Kabul International Airport showing many commercial flights canceled or labeled 'unknown', banks reportedly frozen, and UNAMA/UN officials warning that humanitarian operations—already stretched by a recent earthquake—are impeded.
📍 Contextual Background
- Afghanistan's internet primarily operates on a national fiber-optic infrastructure owned and operated by Afghan Telecom.
- Mobile network operators in Afghanistan obtain their connectivity from Afghan Telecom or from internet service providers in neighboring countries.
- After capturing Kabul in August 2021, the Taliban briefly imposed an internet blackout in the capital.
- As of 2023, 18 percent of Afghanistan's population used the internet, and there were 56 mobile phone subscriptions per 100 people (World Bank).
- The Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021.
- The Taliban banned the internet during their first period of rule in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
- During the insurgency following 2001, the Taliban regularly targeted cell towers and caused mobile internet providers such as MTN to leave Afghanistan.