Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1608 EAT on Tuesday 30 September 2025

Afghanistan experienced a sweeping internet blackout on Tuesday after the ruling Taliban announced plans to restrict access as part of a wider crackdown on what it described as “immoral activities,” raising fresh fears of growing isolation and repression for the country’s 43 million citizens.

The global internet monitoring group NetBlocks reported late Monday that multiple networks across Afghanistan had been taken offline, with some telephone services also disrupted. The group described the situation as a “total internet blackout”, affecting both urban and rural areas nationwide.

The shutdown follows recent Taliban statements vowing to enforce stricter controls on digital spaces, which they accuse of promoting “un-Islamic content” and undermining their authority. Critics warn the blackout could severely impact communication, humanitarian aid efforts, access to education, and economic activity, further deepening Afghanistan’s isolation under the increasingly authoritarian regime.

Afghans living abroad told CNN they were unable to reach family members inside the country amid the blackout, raising concerns about the safety and well-being of loved ones. Meanwhile, flight tracking data on Tuesday morning showed that several incoming flights to Kabul had been cancelled, adding to the growing disruption caused by the communications shutdown.

“There has been no communication with a single person since yesterday,” said Mohammad Hadi, a 30-year-old Afghan national who has lived in New Delhi, India, since 2019, speaking to CNN. “There is no way to talk, no way to know if they are safe or not.”

Hadi described a growing sense of panic among the Afghan diaspora, many of whom have been suddenly and completely cut off from their loved ones back home.

“It’s disrupting everything — I mean, everything is connected. At least before, we could make a call,” he said.

Inside Afghanistan, the media landscape has also been thrown into disarray. Kabul-based TOLOnews reported that the communications shutdown had severely disrupted its operations.

International outlets, including The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse (AFP), said they were unable to reach their bureaus in Kabul, raising concerns about the ability of journalists to report independently from within the country during the blackout

An “alternative system will be established within the country for essential needs,” said Haji Zaid, the Taliban-appointed governor of northern Balkh province, in a statement issued Tuesday. However, he did not elaborate on what the Taliban considers “immoral activities,” a term frequently used by the group to justify crackdowns on media, women’s rights, and online expression.

Zaid added that the directive to impose the internet blackout came from Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, underscoring that the decision originated at the highest level of the regime’s leadership.

Activists warn that the shutdown could have devastating consequences for Afghanistan, a country already gripped by a deepening humanitarian crisis that has worsened since the Taliban seized power in 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The Taliban have systematically curtailed human rights—with women and girls disproportionately affected—creating a “climate of fear and intimidation,” according to a report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) published in July last year.

As the communications blackout deepens, prominent voices in the Afghan diaspora are raising the alarm.

“The silence online—without Afghan voices from inside Afghanistan—is deafening,” wrote Mariam Solaimankhil, a member of the former Afghan government now in exile, in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“My heart hurts. Our people are being cut off, and the world is left in darkness without them.”

Solaimankhil urged Elon Musk, owner of the satellite internet service Starlink, to intervene and help restore connectivity.

“Starlink is the only way to break the chains of Taliban censorship,” she said. “Stand on the right side of history.”

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