Afghanistan has entered its third consecutive day without internet access, leaving millions of people cut off from communication and deepening fears of isolation. Since the outage began on Monday evening, banking services have been paralyzed, flights grounded, and aid operations severely disrupted, according to internet watchdogs such as NetBlocks.
The Taliban-led government, in power since 2021, has not issued an official statement. However, diplomatic sources suggest that Supreme Leader Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered the shutdown to curb the spread of “vice.” Officials indicated the blackout could last indefinitely.
The rare, nationwide disruption has intensified Afghanistan’s isolation, already marked by bans on girls’ education beyond sixth grade and sweeping restrictions on freedoms. Unlike common region-specific blackouts seen in other authoritarian regimes, this level of restriction is unusual and has drawn comparisons to Syria’s near-total shutdown in 2012.
The halt has also crippled humanitarian efforts. With no flights operating, aid deliveries to communities outside Kabul have stalled, and U.N. staff have lost contact with field workers — including Afghan women barred from entering U.N. facilities. This comes as aid agencies continue responding to a deadly 6.0-magnitude earthquake in August that claimed over 1,400 lives and the arrival of more than one million Afghan refugees from Iran.
On Tuesday, the U.N. urged the Taliban to immediately restore telecommunications, warning that the blackout worsens Afghanistan’s fragile economy and humanitarian emergency.
