The Taliban's internet shutdowns are inflicting serious harm on people's rights and livelihoods throughout Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch said today. The shutdowns, which began in mid-September 2025 and covered the entire country by the month's end, have impeded access to education, commerce, media, and healthcare services.
Taliban officials claimed they initiated the shutdowns to prevent "immoral behavior," initially blocking fiber optics in several northern provinces. The shutdown extended to the capital, Kabul, at 5 p.m. on September 29, with both fiber and mobile internet suspended. Proton VPN reported on September 30 that the internet had been completely shut down throughout the country.
"The Taliban's moves to cut internet access harms the livelihoods of millions of Afghans and deprives them of their basic rights to education, health care, and access to information," said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Taliban should drop its baseless rationales and end these shutdowns."
After the blackout began in Kabul, businesses reported disruptions, and flights to and from Kabul's airport were cancelled, media reported.
Students accessing education online-particularly women and girls already shut out of secondary and higher education by the Taliban's far-reaching ban on education-found they could not join their classes. On September 29, a lecturer for an online class for university students told Human Rights Watch that of 28 students who participate in the class, including 18 women in Afghanistan, only 9 could join.
The shutdowns further isolate women and girls, cutting off one of the few remaining avenues for learning, access to information, online employment, and services that rely on digital connectivity. Activists have said the ban would undermine their efforts to support their communities, with women-led initiatives and services for women and girls particularly affected.
Journalists in Afghanistan reported being unable to make local and international calls because the shutdown had affected both mobile and fiber-optic networks, including platforms like WhatsApp and Signal. Documenting the impact of the shutdown has been difficult because it is not possible to reach anyone inside the country while internet and phone networks are down.
Humanitarian aid groups said that the blackout would hinder their response in Afghanistan, which depends on internet connectivity for outreach, coordination, and aid delivery. Indrika Ratwatte, the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, said the shutdowns were affecting day-to-day business and the provision of critical aid: "This is another crisis on top of the existing crises, and the impact is going to be on the lives of Afghan people."
Access to the internet is widely recognized as an indispensable enabler of a broad range of human rights. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has reported on the dramatic effects of internet shutdowns, including the impact on freedom of expression, political participation, public safety, education, work, and health as well as the exacerbation of pre-existing social, economic, and gender-based inequalities. Shutdowns further restrict women's and girls' access to critical support and information, including emergency health services. The OHCHR and the UN Human Rights Council have urged governments to refrain from imposing such shutdowns.
"Afghans were already isolated from the world but now they are completely cut off," Abbasi said. "The longer the Taliban internet shutdowns continue, the more harmful the consequences for both the people and the country."
