Afghans poured onto the streets of Kabul on Wednesday evening as mobile and internet services were restored following a 48-hour shutdown imposed by the Taliban authorities without warning. The blackout had left the country cut off from telecommunications, sparking widespread relief when connectivity returned.
“It felt like we had gone back centuries. We were thinking of sending letters just to get updates from our families,” said Mohammad Rafi, a 33-year-old mobile phone shop owner. The streets, which had been deserted during the outage, quickly filled with people checking their phones and celebrating.
The shutdown had severely impacted daily life and business. Sohrab Ahmadi, a 26-year-old delivery driver, had been unable to work for two days. “It’s like Eid al-Adha; it’s like preparing to go for prayer,” he said as he prepared to resume deliveries. Women, who face sweeping restrictions under the Taliban, also expressed relief. One young woman studying online said, “Online classes are the only hope left for Afghan girls.”
The United Nations warned that the connectivity shutdown threatened economic stability and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis. The outage came weeks after the government announced plans to cut high-speed internet in some provinces to prevent “immorality,” a move ordered by the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.
During the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, the internet was nascent, but the economy has since become heavily dependent on connectivity. “The world has progressed. This is not like 30 years ago,” said Ghulam Rabbani, a mobile credit seller, whose store was busy after the restoration. “We were hopeful that internet would return. It was a loss for everyone – including the government.”
