Internet Blackout in Afghanistan Halts Flights and Essential Services

Fri Oct 10 2025 15:15:09 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Following a nationwide internet shutdown imposed by the Taliban, Kabul International Airport experiences a standstill, affecting flights and vital communication across Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's main airport is paralyzed as the Taliban enforces a nationwide internet blackout, severely disrupting communication and essential services. Flights have been grounded, and many businesses are unable to function, posing a severe threat to the Afghan people's well-being and exacerbating an ongoing humanitarian crisis.

Afghanistan's main airport is at a standstill as the country grapples with the fallout of a nationwide internet shutdown imposed by the Taliban government.

The Taliban has yet to give an official reason for the decision, which took effect on Monday, but did say it would last until further notice. The UN said it risked inflicting significant harm.

Communication within Afghanistan, and out to the wider world, has been severely affected, as have essential services - including banking and payments - and access to online education, a lifeline for many women and girls.

Kabul airport, meanwhile, was nearly deserted, according to one resident, with no evidence of planes arriving or leaving.

#Flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed that a handful of incoming and outgoing flights on Tuesday had been cancelled. Many more simply had their status marked as unknown.

One passenger who planned to fly into Kabul International Airport on Tuesday was told there would be no flights until Thursday at the earliest.

Another local said all flights from Kabul airport had been cancelled since Monday evening.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan called on the Taliban authorities to immediately and fully restore nationwide internet and telecommunications access.

The cut in access has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, it said in a statement.

'We are blind without internet'

The Taliban government have for weeks been severing fibre-optic internet connections across several provinces.

It began in a handful of provinces, but did not impact the capital Kabul until Monday, with several people telling the BBC their fibre-optic internet stopped working towards the end of the working day, around 17:00 local time (12:30 GMT).

And on Tuesday, many awoke across the country to find essential services paralysed.

Najibullah, a 42-year-old shopkeeper in Kabul, told news agency AFP that residents felt like they were left blind without phones and internet. All our business relies on mobiles. The deliveries are with mobiles. It's like a holiday, everyone is at home. The market is totally frozen.

A money changer in Helmand province said all banks in his area were closed and that he was not able to process payments.

In earlier posts, international news agencies reported that they've lost contact with their offices in Kabul due to the disruptions.

A 'total internet blackout'

Netblocks had earlier described the situation as a total internet blackout with multiple networks disconnected in a stepwise manner. A spokesperson for the Taliban governor stated the ban on fibre-optic internet was meant to curb evils.

This shutdown is the latest in a series of restrictions the Taliban has enforced since retaking power, with women and girls particularly affected due to restrictions on their education and rights.