Image used for illustration | Photo Credit: Reuters
The announcement was the Taliban’s first public assertion on a communications blackout that has disrupted banking, commerce and aviation.
Several provinces final month confirmed an web shutdown due to a decree from the Taliban chief Hibatullah Akhundzada to fight immorality.
“There is nothing just like the rumours being unfold that we’ve imposed a ban on the web,” Taliban officers mentioned in a three-line assertion shared in a WhatsApp chat group with Pakistani journalists.
The assertion, additionally posted on social media platform X, cited Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid saying ongoing nationwide disruptions had been the results of “decaying fibre optic infrastructure” that’s now being changed. The assertion didn’t say when or if providers could be restored.
For Maruf Nabizada, the web is a crucial hyperlink to Afghanistan. He fled the nation in 2022 along with his household and settled within the Netherlands. He and his spouse use WhatsApp to remain in contact with their relations.
They have referred to as each hour for the previous three days, however their relations in western Herat province stay offline.
“When you can’t hear out of your family members on a regular basis, you get fearful if they’re superb, if one thing has occurred to them,” Nabizada advised The Associated Press. “Just final night time, my spouse cried as a result of she was not in a position to speak to her mom and sister. We aren’t positive what is going on there.” He feared a prolonged shutdown that might final weeks and even months.
“It shall be actually exhausting as a result of we’re not in a position to return, however no less than the web was the one assurance for us, that we might speak to our households via voice name or video name, however now even that window is closed.” The outage was first reported on Monday by web advocacy group Netblocks, which mentioned web connectivity was collapsing throughout the nation, together with within the capital Kabul, and phone providers additionally had been impacted.
Afghan provider Kam Air advised native TV channel TOLO News it might seemingly resume flights to Kabul later Wednesday, after totally halting operations since Monday as a result of outage.
Aid officers have warned that humanitarian organisations face main challenges due to the blackout, urging authorities to revive connections.
“Reliable communications are important for our capacity to function, to ship life-saving help, and to coordinate with companions,” Save the Children mentioned in a press release on Wednesday. (AP) SKS SKS
Published – October 01, 2025 06:15 pm IST
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