As the Taliban regime imposes a sweeping shutdown of all telecommunications, the move signals not just repression—but the construction of a new digital iron curtain around Afghanistan.
The Lights Go Out, Everywhere
At 5:45 p.m. Kabul time on September 29, the last signals from inside Afghanistan fell silent. Shortly after, NetBlocks—a global internet observatory—confirmed what many feared: a nationwide communication blackout in Afghanistan, leaving less than 1% of the usual digital activity online.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Communications, or what remains of it, did not provide any official statement. But a senior government official, speaking anonymously to AFP, admitted the outage was intentional, stating:
“Between 8,000 and 9,000 telecom towers will be shut down… The banking sector, customs, the entire country will be affected.”
This is no technical glitch. It is an act of political engineering.
Digital Erasure as Governance Strategy
In the modern world, to shut down a nation’s communications infrastructure is to sever its economic arteries, choke its civil society, and blind its population. But this is precisely what the Taliban leadership, under Hibatullah Akhundzada, appears to be pursuing—with deliberate cold logic.
What began in early September as partial internet restrictions in provinces like Balkh, Badakhshan, and Kandahar has now evolved into a total blackout, affecting voice, mobile data, fixed-line telephony, and the internet simultaneously.
This nationwide communication blackout in Afghanistan follows a predictable but ominous trajectory: what starts as a local “moral” measure escalates into a national instrument of control.
“Preventing Vice” or Preventing News?
The stated justification—“to prevent vice”—would be laughable if it weren’t so chilling. The Taliban have linked internet access to the spread of immorality, echoing the kind of rhetorical frameworks used by authoritarian regimes across history to justify mass censorship.
Attaullah Zaid, the spokesman for Balkh Province, put it bluntly:
“This measure was taken to prevent vice… other measures will follow.”
What’s remarkable is not the moral justification itself—already a fixture of Taliban propaganda—but the technocratic precision with which it’s being implemented. Fiber optic lines—symbol of global connectivity—are now being physically severed.
As NetBlocks reported, the Taliban are still in the trial-and-error phase of isolating voice services from internet dependency—another reminder of just how rudimentary yet ruthless their governance has become.
A Return to Pre-Connectivity Isolation
It’s worth remembering that as recently as 2024, the former Afghan government had boasted of a 9,350 km fiber optic network—a project bankrolled and engineered by U.S.-backed administrations.
It was seen not just as an infrastructure achievement, but as a lifeline to the outside world, and a potential catalyst for economic revival.
That lifeline is now gone. Cut not by neglect, but by design.
This blackout is not an accident of policy or a side effect of puritanism—it is a core pillar of the Taliban’s vision of governance: isolation, surveillance, and silence.
When Silence Speaks Volumes
The Taliban are not simply cutting access to Facebook and Instagram. They are erasing the digital map of Afghanistan—wiping out the means for journalists, human rights groups, opposition networks, and ordinary citizens to document what happens in the shadows.
Banks, trade routes, and even informal remittance systems will all feel the blow. The economy, already strangled by sanctions and mismanagement, now loses one of its last functional arteries.
And yet, the regime remains opaque. No timeline. No technical rationale. Just a vague and ominous: “until further notice.”
Toward a Darker Future
The implications of this nationwide communication blackout in Afghanistan stretch far beyond its borders.
This is not only a humanitarian concern, but a strategic warning. A Taliban regime willing to plunge its country into digital darkness is not a regime interested in cooperation, nor in stabilization. It is preparing for total societal control—with no dissent, no witnesses, and no exit.
The world may not be watching anymore. But that is precisely the point.
