Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: THE United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on September 30, 2025 to restore internet and telecommunications access across the country, saying the blackout imposed by the government in Kabul has left the nation almost entirely cut off from the outside world.
The outage, reported the previous day, was the first nationwide shutdown since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 and was part of their professed crackdown on immorality.
Earlier this month, several provinces lost their fibre-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality. The disruption threatened economic stability and deepened one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, said the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
It warned that the blackout is crippling banking and financial systems, isolating women and girls, limiting access to medical care and remittances, and disrupting aviation.
