The UN mission has condemned Afghanistan’s first nationwide internet and telecom blackout since 2021, calling it a “total severance” that threatens survival, aid delivery, and economic stability.
Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered fiber-optic cuts to curb “immorality,” ignoring internal warnings about economic fallout and escalating from past social media bans.
The shutdown has crippled banking, flights, aid coordination, and media, pushing Afghans to panic-buy satellite phones and smuggled SIM cards while silencing voices from within the country.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) issued a fervent appeal on Tuesday to the Taliban-led government, calling for the immediate restoration of internet and telecommunications services across the country. The plea comes as Afghanistan grapples with its first nationwide digital blackout since the Taliban's return to power in 2021, a move authorities have justified as a crackdown on "immorality" but which has plunged 40 million people into isolation, crippling daily life and exacerbating the nation's humanitarian woes.
In a strongly worded statement, UNAMA described the shutdown as a "total severance" that has left Afghans "blind without phones and internet," severing essential connections vital for survival in a country reeling from recent earthquakes, mass deportations, and economic collapse. "This disruption threatens economic stability and deepens one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises," the mission warned, emphasizing that telecommunications are indispensable for disaster response, aid coordination, and basic human rights. The outage, which began escalating earlier this month and reached full nationwide scope on Monday, has halted banking operations, grounded flights, and silenced international news outlets' contacts within Kabul.
The blackout stems from a decree issued by Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada earlier this month, which ordered the severing of fiber-optic connections in several provinces to curb "immoral activities" such as access to social media and unfiltered content. Despite warnings from Taliban officials about potential economic fallout—including stalled remittances, disrupted e-commerce, and halted remote work—Akhundzada reportedly pressed ahead, ignoring internal dissent. This marks a sharp escalation from previous targeted restrictions on platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, evoking memories of the Taliban's 1990s rule when television, satellites, and other media were outright banned.
