Taliban Imposes Nationwide Internet Blackout in Afghanistan Amid Morality Crackdown

by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief

(Worthy News) – Afghanistan has been plunged into a nationwide communications blackout after the Taliban cut internet and telephone services across the country in what the Islamist regime calls a move to enforce “morality measures.”

The cybersecurity watchdog Netblocks confirmed Monday that internet connections were severed in a stepwise manner, with telephone networks also disrupted. International outlets including AFP and BBC said they lost contact with offices in Kabul, while Afghan broadcaster TOLO reported its transmissions were affected. Mobile phone services are reportedly set to return on a limited 2G capacity.

The Taliban has not issued a formal statement, but a local spokesperson in Balkh province said the order came directly from supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada “to prevent immoral activities.” Authorities had already restricted high-speed fiber-optic internet earlier this month in several provinces, sparking complaints from users.

The blackout threatens to cripple daily life in Afghanistan, cutting off online education, business communications, banking, and even airport operations. Flights from Kabul International Airport were disrupted Monday as connectivity collapsed.

Torek Farhadi, a former senior advisor to the IMF and World Bank, warned the impact would be severe. “For Afghanistan’s youth, it is definitely another costly fallback if it continues. It closes the door on online education, it severely handicaps business owners who communicate with clients. It is a deliberate decision to lead society to a blind spot,” he told CBS News.

The move is the latest in a series of repressive restrictions since the Taliban retook power in 2021. Women and girls remain barred from education beyond age 12, human rights curricula have been removed, and midwifery courses were canceled in 2024. Earlier this month, women-authored books were banned from universities.

The blackout also comes as Afghanistan faces compounding crises: one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies fueled by aid cuts, the forced return of nearly 2 million refugees from Iran and Pakistan, and recovery from a deadly earthquake that killed nearly 3,000 people earlier this month.

Church in Afghanistan

Over the past two decades, Afghanistan’s Christian community has quietly grown from almost nothing into a small but resilient underground church. When the Taliban fell in 2001, space briefly opened for aid groups, media ministries, and returning diaspora believers to share the Gospel. Through satellite broadcasts, digital Scripture distribution, and discreet house gatherings, thousands of Afghans came to faith—making Afghanistan one of the fastest-growing, though most hidden, churches in the world.

By the time the Taliban retook Kabul in 2021, observers estimated there were several thousand Afghan believers across the country. Most were converts from Islam, meeting in secret to avoid persecution. The Taliban’s return to power, however, sparked a renewed wave of crackdowns. Known Christians were hunted, many fled abroad, and those who remain live under constant risk. House churches have splintered into tiny groups or gone deeper underground, relying heavily on online discipleship and secure digital connections with ministries and believers outside Afghanistan.

That dependence makes the Taliban’s nationwide internet blackout particularly devastating. For Afghan Christians, the internet has been a lifeline—providing access to Scripture, online worship, teaching, and encouragement from the global body of Christ. With connectivity cut, many believers are now isolated, their ability to receive discipleship and encouragement severed. As the Taliban moves to enforce its strict interpretation of Sharia, this communications blackout not only disrupts education, business, and daily life but also threatens to silence one of the few channels through which Afghanistan’s hidden church can grow and survive.

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