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Afghanistan’s Internet Restored After 48-Hour Blackout as Taliban Denies Nationwide Ban

Taliban officials now attribute the outage to decaying fibre infrastructure.

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It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 that communications have been shutdown in the country
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Overview

  • Mobile and internet services returned in Kabul and several provinces on Wednesday after a near-countrywide shutdown that lasted roughly two days.
  • Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected reports of a deliberate nationwide ban and blamed worn fibre-optic cables, despite earlier provincial orders citing a push to prevent “immorality.”
  • NetBlocks measured connectivity collapsing to about 14% of normal levels and later below 1%, following phased cuts that also limited phone services and throttled 3G and 4G.
  • Kabul’s airport saw multiple flight cancellations and banks, hospitals, media outlets and aid operations reported significant disruption during the outage.
  • The United Nations and rights groups condemned the blackout as a serious rights violation that especially harms women and girls, urging safeguards against future shutdowns.