Overview

• Internet connectivity has fallen to under 1% of normal levels, according to NetBlocks, with AFP losing contact with its Kabul bureau on Monday evening.
• The shutdown is set to continue until further notice, an official told AFP, with 8,000–9,000 telecommunications pylons taken out of service and nationwide communications curtailed.
• Markets in Kabul were described as paralysed, people struggled to reach family, and international flights to Afghanistan were canceled, flight-tracking site Flightradar24 reported.
• The nationwide cut followed weeks of provincial restrictions and slow, intermittent service, with officials in Balkh citing a goal to prevent vice when banning fiber there on September 16.
• Because telephony rides on the same 9,350-kilometre fiber backbone, disabling the network also disrupted fixed-line and mobile phone services across the country.