Afghanistan entered its second consecutive day without Internet or mobile phone service on Tuesday, after the Taliban cut off the country’s fiber optic network.
The blackout, which authorities began enforcing earlier this month by restricting high-speed access in some provinces to curb what they called “vice,” reached a nationwide scale late Monday. According to Internet watchdog NetBlocks, connectivity gradually dropped until it was less than one percent of normal levels. This marks the first nationwide communications shutdown since the Taliban seized power in 2021 and imposed their strict version of Islamic law.
We are blind without phones and Internet,” said Najibullah, a 42-year-old shopkeeper in Kabul. “All our business depends on mobiles deliveries, orders, everything. The market is frozen, and people are just staying at home.
A government official, who spoke to AFP shortly before the shutdown, confirmed that fiber optic connections would be severed, impacting mobile phone services as well. He said some “eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars” would be switched off, with no indication of when services might resume.
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