If you’re reading this, you’re probably not currently in Afghanistan. The ruling Taliban has cut off the internet to most of the country, according to Netblocks, an internet watchdog.
Internet shutdown
Netblocks said internet connectivity levels in Afghanistan have “collapsed” to 14% of ordinary levels. They said a near-total nationwide telecoms disruption is now in effect and “is likely to severely limit the public’s ability to contact the outside world.”
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This move comes as the Taliban continues to revert the country closer to its interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, including requiring women to cover everything but their eyes.
“How could you possibly allow the internet inside Afghanistan when it provides the opportunity for almost anyone with access, you know, to see far more than people’s eyes,” Jonathan Cristol, author of “The United States and the Taliban Before and After 9/11,” told Straight Arrow News.
International news agency AFP said it has lost contact with its office in Kabul and with journalists in the cities of Herat and Kandahar. The Associated Press also said it could not contact its Kabul bureau or reporters in Nangarhar and Helmand.
Mobile internet and satellite TV are also down.
Flights out of Kabul airport have also been disrupted, according to several reports.
“Afghanistan has now officially taken first place in the competition with North Korea for disconnection,” Hamid Haidari, former editor-in-chief of Afghan news channel 1TV, said on X.
The internet went down right at the end of typical business hours, so the impact will likely be felt tomorrow morning. “It will definitely be a hit to the economy, but the shock to the system, I think, is much more on the personal freedom level than the economic level,” Cristol said.
The Taliban communicated that the shutdown will remain in place “until further notice,” according to The Washington Post.
Why now?
“In the 20 years between their first shot at running Afghanistan and now, they have become a bit more media savvy and a bit more worldly,” Cristol said. “And it’s all relative, because they’re really not that worldly a bunch, but they have a sense of what they can get away with a bit more than they did at the time.”
Cristol said they often try these maneuvers when the world is paying closer attention to something else, like the recent United Nations General Assembly.
“I would guess that they’re somewhat surprised that this made headlines,” Cristol said.
Taliban restrictions
Since retaking power in 2021, the Taliban has imposed numerous restrictions.
Internet users in the country have complained for weeks about slow internet service or no connectivity at all as the crackdown on “immorality” ramped up. The Taliban has said an alternative route for internet access will be created, but gave no further details.
They’ve also banned books written by women from any Afghan universities.
Shortly after taking power, the Taliban ordered judges to impose punishments for certain crimes, including stoning, public amputations and more.
They’ve also codified morality laws which require Afghan women to cover their faces and men to grow beards.
“They didn’t want to immediately start cracking down on religious minorities, on personal freedoms in the first few days, while all of the eyes of the world were on Afghanistan,” Cristol said. “And so what they started to do is they started to disappear people in the middle of the night, as opposed to broad daylight, and then they have gradually been cutting these things, you know, been tightening the noose over the last few years in a more subtle way.”
What happens next?
Cristol said this is a rare case where the international community could step in to help, citing things like Elon Musk’s Starlink.
“I don’t know if there are other options other than Starlink, but I hope that there are,” Cristol said. “But this is something that we could do.”
Cristol added that it’s also not just a removal of the internet that could use a change in Afghanistan.
“How can we force the Taliban to allow women in the workplace?” he said. “You can impose sanctions, or you could try to hope that they liberalize through having a more open relationship.”
