Afghanistan’s digital heartbeat returned on Wednesday, October 1, 2025, after a sudden, sweeping internet and telecommunications blackout left the nation isolated for nearly two days. The restoration of mobile networks and Wi-Fi, confirmed by AFP journalists in provinces such as Kandahar, Khost, Ghazni, and Herat, was greeted with jubilation on the streets of Kabul, where hundreds of Afghans celebrated by buying sweets, balloons, and sharing the news with loved ones. The relief was palpable. As Mohammad Tawab Farooqi, a restaurant manager in the capital, told AFP, “The city is alive again.”
The blackout, which began abruptly on Monday night, September 29, paralyzed daily life across Afghanistan. Businesses, airports, markets, banks, and post offices shuttered their doors. Commerce ground to a halt, flights were cancelled, and families found themselves unable to communicate, both within Afghanistan and with the outside world. The United Nations, responding to the crisis, noted that the shutdown “left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world,” and called on authorities to immediately restore access.
The disruption was not without warning. A government official, speaking to AFP minutes before the shutdown, cautioned that the country’s fiber optic network would be severed “until further notice.” According to Netblocks, a watchdog organization monitoring internet governance, the blackout “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service,” with connectivity plummeting to just 1% of normal levels. The move followed weeks of partial internet restrictions, as high-speed connections in several provinces were previously throttled on orders from the Taliban’s reclusive supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, ostensibly to prevent “immorality.”
Internet monitoring group IODA documented that the nationwide blackout began at around 12:30 am UTC (17:00 local time) on September 29. Data from Cloudflare Radar confirmed that Afghanistan’s internet traffic dropped to zero at the national level, a digital darkness that extended even to mobile networks, despite initial reports that they were unaffected. The blackout, as Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition—representing over 345 human rights organizations worldwide—emphatically denounced, was the most severe in a series of shutdowns imposed by the Taliban since their return to power in 2021.
For many Afghans, the internet is more than a convenience—it’s a lifeline. It enables business, education, and connection with family and friends, both near and far. The blackout’s impact was especially acute for women and girls, who, barred from most educational institutions, have come to rely on online classes as their only means of learning. Thousands of students and teachers found themselves locked out of virtual classrooms, and civil society groups warned that the humanitarian response to a devastating earthquake in eastern Afghanistan was severely hampered by the lack of reliable communications.
“Reliable communications are essential for our ability to operate, to deliver life-saving assistance, and to co-ordinate with partners,” Save the Children said in a statement Wednesday, echoing a chorus of aid organizations urging the Taliban to restore connections. Afghan Peace Watch warned that “40 million people are being dragged into digital darkness.”
The blackout’s economic toll was immediate. Senior officials in the finance and economy ministries reportedly cautioned that severing high-speed internet would cripple government operations and devastate the already fragile economy. Yet, reports suggest that only government offices and diplomats may have limited access via a new state-controlled provider, while ordinary Afghans must apply for special permits to go online—a move that deepens surveillance and widens inequality.
The Taliban government has not officially commented on the reasons for the nationwide shutdown. Confusion briefly reigned after a purported Taliban statement circulated on social media, claiming the outage was due to worn-out fiber optic cables in need of replacement. The Associated Press later confirmed that the statement was false, having been shared privately among members of a Taliban media WhatsApp group and posted by a known sympathizer, not an official source. Hours later, the Taliban’s official WhatsApp group released a genuine statement acknowledging the outage and assuring that technical teams were working to restore services. Netblocks, meanwhile, confirmed the partial restoration of connectivity on Wednesday, noting that the blackout coincided with the Taliban leadership’s enforcement of new “immorality” rules for telecommunications operators.
This isn’t the first time the Taliban have used digital restrictions as a tool of control. Since 2021, they have enforced four internet shutdowns, each time curbing the flow of information and restricting fundamental rights. In 2024 and early 2025, the Taliban’s supreme leader even sought a clerical ruling to ban smartphones outright—a proposal that faltered in the face of internal opposition. Efforts to curtail social media have also intensified: in 2023, the Ministry of Information and Culture announced that YouTube channel operators would need licenses, financial guarantees, and fees to operate.
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition argue that these measures are part of a broader campaign to silence dissent, curb criticism, and control what Afghans can see and say online. “Afghanistan’s nationwide internet shutdown is an authoritarian tactic disguised as a ‘fight against immorality,’” the coalition stated. “By ignoring internal warnings about economic and social fallout, the Taliban leadership has chosen to punish an entire population for the sake of censorship and control.”
International calls for action have grown louder. The #KeepItOn coalition and Access Now have urged the Taliban to immediately restore all high-speed internet connections, stop imposing arbitrary shutdowns, and guarantee that no further disruptions will occur. They’ve also appealed to the global community, including governments and the Freedom Online Coalition, to publicly denounce the blackout and support efforts to restore internet access throughout Afghanistan.
For ordinary Afghans, the return of connectivity brought a sense of relief, but also lingering uncertainty. As Sohrab Ahmadi, a 26-year-old delivery driver, described the moment the internet came back: “It’s like Eid al-Adha; it’s like preparing to go for prayer. We are very happy from the bottom of our hearts.” Yet, beneath the celebrations, many worry that further blackouts or restrictions could return at any time, and that the digital future of Afghanistan remains precarious.
As the dust settles on this latest episode, Afghanistan’s experience stands as a stark reminder of the fragile nature of digital rights under authoritarian rule, and of the vital role that connectivity plays in the fabric of modern life.
