A huge communications blackout hit Afghanistan on Monday, weeks after Taliban authorities began severing fibre optic connections in multiple provinces to prevent “vice”.

“A nation-wide telecoms blackout is now in effect,” said Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.

“We’re now observing national connectivity at 14% of ordinary levels.”

The watchdog said the incident “appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service”.

AFP lost contact with its bureau in the capital Kabul around 6:15pm (1315 GMT), including mobile phone service.

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities began a crackdown on internet access earlier this month, severing connections in multiple provinces.

The move, ordered by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, effectively shut down high-speed internet in several regions.

Fibre optic internet was completely banned in northern Balkh province on the leader’s orders, provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said on September 16.

“This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.

At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.

Over the past several weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent.

In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network — largely built by former US-backed governments — as a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.

Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban have instituted numerous restrictions.