Freshta Shikhani
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 30, 2025
The Taliban has imposed a nationwide shutdown of telecommunications in Afghanistan, a move that has largely cut off the country from the rest of the world.
The hard-line Islamist group severed access to fiber-optic Internet across Afghanistan on September 29. Mobile phone networks, which share the same system, were also mostly shut down.
The move has sparked chaos in Afghanistan, disrupting flights and cutting people off from banking and e-commerce systems as well as online jobs and schools.
The blackout is likely to exacerbate the economic strife in Afghanistan, where poverty is rising, hunger is widespread, and unemployment is high.
Internet watchdog NetBlocks said late on September 29 that Afghanistan was “in the midst of a total Internet blackout.”
“We had no warning that the Internet would be shut down,” said a female teacher living in Hairatan, a town in northern Afghanistan near the border with Uzbekistan. “It’s not just the Internet, but mobile phone signal.”
The woman, who spoke to RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said local SIM cards had been deactivated, and she had purchased an Uzbek SIM card.
The Taliban has not given an official reason for the shutdown. But the communications blackout came weeks after the group started blocking access to fiber-optic Internet in several provinces.
The group said the move was intended to prevent “immorality,” with the Taliban previously voicing concern over pornography and online intimacy between men and women.
But critics have said the decision is part of a wider crackdown on individual freedoms and the free flow of information.
Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has severely restricted the rights of Afghans, especially women, and violently cracked down on dissent.
The Taliban has used its own interpretation of Islamic Shari’a law to justify its extremist policies. But Islamic scholars say there is no religious grounds for the group’s decision to shut down the Internet.
‘Many Problems’
The communications blackout has affected ordinary Afghans, private businesses, and government offices.
A resident of the northeastern province of Badakhshan told Radio Azadi that the shutdown had caused people “many problems.”
“It’s had a lot of negative effects on our lives,” said the man, who asked not to be named. “People aren’t able to work or stay connected with their families.”
The UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a September 30 statement called on the Taliban to immediately and fully restore nationwide Internet and telecommunications access.
“The cut in access has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”
Ishaq Atmar, an Afghan analyst based in Germany, said the communication shutdown will have wide-ranging consequences.
“It’s a huge loss for both the people of Afghanistan and the economy of this country,” he told Radio Azadi. “If you cut off the Internet, it means that you have cut off life because nothing is possible without the Internet.”
The Internet has been a lifeline for Afghan women, many of whom lost their right to work and study following a Taliban ban in 2022.
The broadband blackouts are likely to exacerbate the economic strife in Afghanistan, where poverty is rising, hunger is widespread, and unemployment is high.
Meanwhile, media watchdogs have condemned the Internet ban as an attempt to stop the free flow of information.
Haroon Basir, an Afghan journalist based in France, told Radio Azadi that he has not been able to contact his family in Afghanistan since September 29.
“This is a huge pain for me,” he said. “It’s a huge challenge for thousands of Afghans who are outside Afghanistan and cannot contact their families.”
Copyright (c) 2025. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
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