Afghanistan has entered its third day under a nationwide internet blackout, intensifying fear and uncertainty for millions already cut off under the regime that has ruled the country for the past four years.
Since the evening of Monday, September 29, most Afghans have been effectively unable to contact each other or the outside world, according to monitors including NetBlocks. Banking operations have ground to a halt, flights are not departing, and UN agencies — among the last international actors still present in Afghanistan — report that delivering humanitarian aid has become nearly impossible.
The Taliban leadership, in power since 2021, has not responded to requests for comment. A diplomatic source said on condition of anonymity that supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered the shutdown to prevent the spread of “vice.” Both he and the Afghan Foreign Ministry stated that the blackout would continue “until further notice.”
Since returning to power after the collapse of the U.S.-backed government, the Taliban have steadily deepened the country’s isolation. Girls have been barred from schooling beyond the sixth grade, while religious edicts have imposed sweeping restrictions on personal freedoms and communication.
Prolonged nationwide communication blackouts of this kind are rare even under authoritarian regimes. In 2012, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad imposed an almost total internet shutdown at the start of the revolution. Most governments, however, confine restrictions to temporary blocks in specific regions.
Money transfers and aid deliveries to vulnerable communities outside Kabul have effectively been frozen: flights have not operated for two days, said one Kabul resident familiar with the work of humanitarian organizations. According to him, UN staff in Kabul are unable to reach colleagues in other provinces, including Afghan women who are barred from entering mission offices.
Assistance is also urgently needed in response to the 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan in late August, killing more than 1,400 people, as well as the return of over one million refugees who crossed back over the western border from Iran.
On September 30, the UN mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban to immediately restore internet and communications, citing the fragile state of the economy and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.