‘I couldn’t reach them’: Afghans abroad despair as Taliban blackout severs all contact
PARIS, Oct 2 — Afghans around the world are despairing at losing contact with loved ones after a Taliban-enforced internet blackout plunged the country into near-total isolation on Monday.
Connectivity in Afghanistan is now running at less than one per cent of normal levels, according to internet governance watchdog Netblocks, after Taliban authorities ordered the shutdown “until further notice.”
The blackout adds to the hardships faced by one of the world’s poorest nations, already battered by decades of war, a humanitarian crisis and an earthquake last month.
For Afghans abroad, many displaced against their will, the sudden silence has been devastating.
“My mom, my sisters and my brothers, they are in Afghanistan. One day, I called them like 20 or 10 times, but I couldn’t reach them,” said Mehdi, a 29-year-old Afghan restaurant worker in Pakistan.
“I don’t know how they survive and how they live,” he added, noting he can no longer send money home to support his family.
‘The whole family is anxious’
Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered the blackout to combat what authorities call “vice.”
The shutdown blocks social media, prevents women from accessing online education, censors independent media, and disrupts remittances from Afghans abroad.
The United Nations has warned of “a very dire situation” with “serious human rights ramifications.”
“The whole family is anxious,” said Nooriya Qaderi, 59, an Afghan refugee in New Delhi. “Because of these problems I can’t talk to my family... everyone is worried.”
Restaurant manager Khwaja Zamiruddin, also in the Indian capital, said he feared for his mother at home. “We can’t communicate... (and) sending money has become very difficult. There are so many challenges. No one knows how long the blackout will go on for.”
At the start of 2025, some 13.2 million Afghans — around 30.5 per cent of the population — had internet access, including 4.05 million social media users, according to DataReportal.
In France, 20-something Afghan refugee Rahimullah Habiboghli said he has been unable to contact his family since Monday. “I can’t believe it. It cannot last, it’s just not possible. No country in the world is completely cut off from the internet,” he told AFP.
Habiboghli, who runs an association supporting education in Afghanistan, said he was unsure how to continue fundraising and sending aid.
In 2024, Kabul had promoted its 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network, built largely under US-backed governments, as a “priority” to link Afghanistan to the world and spur development.
“They want to keep their people in the dark, preventing them from seeing the world so they can stay in power,” Habiboghli said. — AFP
[Source: Malay Mail]
