Afghanistan Remains in Total Blackout

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For the second consecutive day, Afghanistan remains in a complete internet blackout. Since Monday evening (September 29), the Taliban, without prior warning, have cut all fiber optic internet services and mobile networks across the country, an action that experts say has created an unprecedented “digital blackout.”

For more than twenty hours, the internet has remained cut off, leaving millions of Afghan citizens disconnected from the outside world. This outage has not only stopped family communications and media activities but has also dealt a severe blow to education, commerce, banking, and health services.

According to “NetBlocks,” the level of internet connectivity in Afghanistan has dropped to below 14 percent. The organization described the Taliban’s action as deliberate and warned that the country is moving toward an “absolute digital blackout.”

Reports have also emerged of widespread disruption in mobile phones, the cutting of international calls, and the suspension of flights from Kabul airport. Social media users have said that due to flight suspensions, passengers have been stranded at Dubai airport and families remain uninformed about one another.

Sabena Chaudhry, communications manager at Women for Afghan Women (WAW), told CNN: “This blackout has silenced millions of Afghans and cut their vital lifeline of communication with the outside world.”

Speculations abound regarding the reasons for this Taliban action. The Washington Post, quoting a foreign diplomat in Kabul, reported that the Taliban decided to cut the internet without prior notice and stated that this situation would continue until “further notice.”

Sarah Adams, a former officer of the CIA, in reaction to this action, said the Taliban are trying to hide the movement of foreign fighters from Bagram to terrorist camps. She wrote on the social network X that this action by the Taliban was taken during negotiations with the United States to gain Washington’s approval. She also called for an immediate halt to US financial aid to the Taliban.

The exiled Nai organization also called this nationwide cutoff a “betrayal against more than 40 million citizens” and stressed that this action has turned Afghanistan into “a vast prison in the age of communication.” The organization warned that with this, the Taliban want to hide their news and crimes from the eyes of the international community.

Human rights activists, civil organizations, and internet watchdogs have described this digital blackout as a gross violation of human rights and a direct attack on freedom of expression, education, and access to information.

Analysts warn that with this action, the Taliban want to isolate Afghanistan even further and separate it from the international community. While the world strives for transparency, open communications, and equal access to information, the Taliban have chosen the opposite path, one that not only plunges the future of Afghan girls and boys into darkness but also turns the country into a silenced and repressed island.