Afghanistan has now been without internet for 2 days. The Taliban has cut off all communications across the country to prevent "vice" on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Mobile phone signal and internet service have eroded slowly, with more than 43 million citizens saying they have now lost complete access.
Internet watchdogs have said the connectivity in the Taliban-controlled country was running at less than 1% of its usual capacity. But this crackdown on the communication lines isn't new.
Tightening its grip on the country, Afghanistan's Taliban authorities began the crackdown on access earlier this month. It started cutting the 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network, which was largely built by the US and its allied countries. Reports say internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent over the past weeks.
Impact of Taliban's internet crackdown
The snipping of communication lines has also disrupted flight operations in and out of Kabul. Reports say at least eight flights scheduled to depart from or arrive at Kabul International Airport on Tuesday have been cancelled. And there is practically no way for the passengers to know.
The banking sector is also expected to be hit hard. Business leaders have also warned that if the internet ban continued their activities would be seriously hit.
But what made the Taliban take this decision? Turns out, the same thing that blocked all Afghan girls from education. The administration's officials cited 'morality measures' and an attempt to 'prevent vice.'
The Taliban leader reportedly ignored warnings from some officials earlier this month about the economic fallout of cutting the internet and ordered authorities to press ahead with a nationwide ban.
In the minutes before it happened, a government official warned AFP that the fibre optic network would be cut, affecting mobile phone services too.
"Eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars" would be shut down, he said, adding that the blackout would last "until further notice".
"There isn't any other way or system to communicate... the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected," said the official who asked not to be named.
(With AFP inputs)
