KABUL: The United Nations called on Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities on Monday (Sep 29) to immediately restore internet and telecommunications in the country, 24 hours after a nationwide blackout was imposed.
The government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces earlier this month to prevent “vice”, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Mobile phone signal and internet service weakened on Monday night until connectivity was less than one per cent of ordinary levels.
Afghans are unable to contact each other, online businesses and the banking systems have frozen, and diaspoara abroad cannot send crucial remittances to family.
All flights were cancelled at Kabul airport on Tuesday, AFP journalists saw.
“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,” the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.
“The current blackout also constitutes a further restriction on access to information and freedom of expression in Afghanistan,” it added.
It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been shut down in the country.
“We are blind without phones and 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.”
The telecommunications ministry refused to let journalists enter the building in Kabul on Tuesday.
Minutes before the shutdown on Monday evening, a government official warned AFP that the fibre optic network would be cut, and affect mobile phone services.
“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.
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