Afghanistan Hit By Major Communications Blackout As Taliban Cuts Fibre Optic Networks

A huge communications blackout hit Afghanistan on Monday, weeks after Taliban authorities began severing fibre optic connections in multiple provinces to prevent "vice".

AFP lost mobile phone contact with its bureau in the capital Kabul around 6.15pm (1315 GMT), as well as with journalists in the cities of Herat and Kandahar.

"A nation-wide telecoms blackout is now in effect," said Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.

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"We're now observing national connectivity at 14 per cent of ordinary levels."

The watchdog said the incident "appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service".

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities began the crackdown on internet access earlier this month, effectively shutting down high-speed internet in several regions.

Over the past several weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.

Telephone services are often routed over the internet, sharing the same fibre lines, especially in countries with limited telecoms infrastructure.

"Physically pulling the plug on fibre internet would therefore also shut down mobile and fixed-line telephone services," Netblocks told AFP.

"It may turn out that disconnecting internet access while keeping phone service available will take some trial and error."

On September 16, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said fibre optic internet was completely banned in northern province on the leader's orders.

"This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs," he wrote on social media.

At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.

In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network - largely built by former US-backed governments - as a "priority" to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.

Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban have instituted numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.

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