Talibans maintain official silence almost 24 hours after Afghanistan was incommunicado by a national internet blackout and telephone communications, in a widespread isolation that left more than 43 million people without connection.
The silence of the regime extends even to social networks, its main propaganda tool. The main Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, whose account on social network X is one of the regime’s official voices, has not published any message for more than a day.
The interruption began on Monday at 5 pm (local time), according to Afghan press, when the fiber optic services were cut and later the mobile networks were degraded, preventing internet access across the country.
The main local press vehicle, TOLOnewsgathered testimonials from citizens in Cabul who denounce how the blackout completely blocked his work and daily activities.
During the blackout, important Afghan media such as the Amu TV They began to disclose limited information on their social networking profiles, denouncing that international agencies lost contact with their offices in Cabul.
“Internet connectivity in Afghanistan remained stagnant around 1%,” the NetBlocksan international organization of internet access monitoring.
The blackout occurs weeks after the Taliban prohibited internet access by fiber optic in the north of the country, with the argument of preventing “immoral activities”, directly limiting the network infrastructure in the country for the first time.
On several occasions, the regime’s authorities have expressed concern about the circulation of contents that they consider contrary to their interpretation of Sharia (Islamic law), which served as a justification for imposing digital restrictions.
“An alternative system will be established within the country for essential needs,” said the governor of Balkh province in the North, Haji Zaid, without clarifying the specifications of the measure.
Afghan organizations in exile pointed directly to the talibans as responsible for the cut, among them, the Affhan Women Activists Coordinating Body (Awacb), which denounced that disconnection was “deliberate by the Taliban” and isolates “an entire nation of the world and silences civil voices.”
The agency urged the international community to press to restore access to communications, considering blackout not only as censorship, but as “an attack on life, dignity and survival.”
