Taliban’s internet cut triggers telecom blackout in Afghanistan

KABUL: Afghanistan faced a second day without internet and mobile phone service on Tuesday, after Taliban authorities cut the fibre optic network.

The government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces earlier in the month to prevent “vice” on the orders of Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

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On Monday night, mobile phone signal and internet service gradually weakened nationwide until connectivity was less than one per cent of ordinary levels, according to internet watchdog NetBlocks.

It is the first time since the Taliban government won its insurgency in 2021 and imposed Sharia law that communications have been shut down in the country.

“We are blind without phones and the internet,” said 42-year-old shopkeeper Najibullah in Kabul.

“All our business relies on mobiles. The deliveries are with mobiles. It’s like a holiday, everyone is at home. The market is totally frozen.”

In the minutes before it happened, a government official warned AFP that the fibre optic network would be cut, affecting mobile phone services too.

“Eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars” would be shut down, he said, adding that the blackout would last “until further notice”.

“There isn’t any other way or system to communicate … the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected,” said the official who asked not to be named.

The Taliban leader reportedly ignored warnings from some officials earlier this month about the economic fallout of cutting the internet and ordered authorities to press ahead with a nationwide ban.