A huge interruption of communication hit Afghanistan on Monday, weeks after the Taliban authorities began interrupting fiber optic relations in multiple provinces to prevent “vice”.
“A nationwide telecom is now in effect,” said Netblocks, a watchdog organization that monitors cyber security and internet management.
“We are now observing national connection to 14% of the regular levels.”
The watchdog said the incident “appears to be in accordance with the intentional interruption of service”.
AFP Lost contact with his agency in the capital Kabul around 10 pm. 18.15 (1315 GMT), including mobile phone service.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities began a crash on Internet access earlier this month and abolished connections in several provinces.
The move, ordered by the Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, effectively closes high -speed internet in several regions.
Fiber -optic Internet was completely banned in northern Balkh province on the leader’s orders, said provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid on September 16.
“This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be introduced throughout the country to meet connection needs,” he wrote on social media.
At that time, AFP Correspondents reported the same limitations in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.
Over the past several weeks, Internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.
By 2024, Kabul had declared the 9,350-kilometer-long fiber optic network-large-scale set by previously US-supported governments-a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.
Since the recovery of power in 2021, the Taliban has introduced several restrictions.
