‘Total internet blackout’ in Afghanistan sparks panic after Taliban vowed to stamp out immoral activities

By Mohammed Tawfeeq, Ross Adkin, Esha Mitra, CNN

(CNN) — Afghanistan faced a sweeping internet blackout on Tuesday after the ruling Taliban vowed to cut off access as part of a crackdown on “immoral activities,” sparking fears of further isolation for millions living under their increasingly harsh rule.

Internet watchdog Netblocks said late Monday that multiple networks in Afghanistan had been disconnected and that telephone services had also been impacted, resulting in what it said was a “total internet blackout” in the nation of 43 million people.

Afghans abroad told CNN they were unable to reach family members inside the country and on Tuesday morning flight data showed several incoming flights to Kabul were cancelled.

“From yesterday there is no communication with a single person,” Mohammad Hadi, a 30-year-old Afghan who has lived in India’s capital Delhi since 2019 told CNN. “There is no means to talk, to be sure that they are safe or not.”

Hadi described a looming sense of panic among Afghan diaspora suddenly cut off from their loved ones.

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

Kabul-based Tolo News TV reported that the shutdown had severely affected its operations. The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse international news agencies both said they had been unable to contact their bureaus in the capital Kabul.

The blackout marks appears to be the most extensive and coordinated telecom shutdowns in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, raising fears of a return to the strictures of previous Taliban rule, which banned television, satellites and other mass communication devices in its war on immorality.

What has caused the blackout – and how widespread the outages are – is not immediately clear. CNN attempts to reach Taliban officials for comment via messaging app did not go through and there has been no official statement yet from the group.

Earlier this month Taliban officials warned they would cut off internet access across the country “to prevent immoral activities.”

An “alternative system will be established within the country for essential needs,” the governor of northern Balkh province, Haji Zaid, said in a statement. He did not clarify what was meant by “immoral activities.”

Zaid said the order came from Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader.

Wahida Faizi, an Afghan journalist based in Denmark, described the personal toll of losing contact with her family. “It has only been a few hours since the internet was cut off in Afghanistan, but for me, it feels like a lifetime has passed,” Faizi told CNN on Monday.

“Every day after work, my mother and father’s voice brought peace to my heart … Perhaps we always complained about the slow internet in Afghanistan, but today I have realized that even faulty internet and those simple moments of video calls were such a great blessing,” Faizi said.

‘The silence is deafening’

Activists said the shutdown could have devastating consequences for Afghanistan, which is in the throes of a humanitarian crisis that has only worsened since the Taliban seized power in 2021 following a chaotic United States withdrawal.

Since the Taliban banned girls from attending school beyond grade six, many have relied on online classes provided by educators abroad or by charitable organizations. With the internet cut off, these opportunities are now under threat.

Sabena Chaudhry, communications manager at Women for Afghan Women (WAW), an Afghan women’s rights organization, told CNN that the blackout “is not only silencing millions of Afghans but also extinguishing their lifeline to connect with the outside world.”

Chaudhry, who is based in New York, said they have lost contact with staff members inside Afghanistan.

The Taliban have curtailed human rights – disproportionately targeting women and girls – creating a “climate of fear and intimidation,” said a report by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) published in July last year.

“The silence online without Afghan voices from inside Afghanistan is deafening,” Mariam Solaimankhil, a member of the exile Afghan government toppled by the Taliban, wrote on X.

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

“Starlink is the only way to break the chains of Taliban censorship,” she said, calling on Starlink owner Elon Musk to “stand on the right side of history.”

Starlink is not currently available in Afghanistan, according to the company’s website.

Hilary Whiteman contributed reporting

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