UN appeals to the Taliban to restore internet access across Afghanistan

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ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on Tuesday 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 Monday, 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 fiber-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality.

There has been no official comment from the Taliban, who rely on messaging apps and social media for internal and external communications.

The internet 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.

The U.N. said such restrictions further undermine freedom of expression and the right to information. It noted that telecommunications are also crucial during disasters — Afghanistan has recently suffered major earthquakes in the east and is struggling with mass forced returns from neighboring countries.

The U.N. mission said the internet outage spread since it was first imposed by the Taliban on Sept. 16 and became nationwide on Sept. 29. The mission said it would continue to press Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to restore access “in support of the Afghan people.”

Pakistan’s diplomatic missions have made alternative communication arrangements, including the use of satellite phones, according to an official in Islamabad. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman described the nationwide shutdown as one of the “most extreme and draconian steps” the Taliban had taken since returning to power.

“And it amplifies, in the starkest possible way, though certainly not for the first time, that the group has not become any more ideologically moderate than when it was in control in the 1990s,” he told The Associated Press.

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Associated Press writer Riazat Butt contributed to this report.