The Taliban shut down internet and telecom services across Afghanistan on Monday, plunging the country into near-total digital darkness and drawing a UN warning of “significant harm” to citizens.
The blackout is said to have come after Afghanistan’s 9,350-kilometer fiber optic network was disabled, leaving flights grounded, banks frozen, and millions of citizens and businesses cut off.
Kabul International Airport has seen all commercial flights canceled or marked as “unknown,” leaving the country’s main air hub virtually deserted, per Reuters.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has urged the Taliban to immediately restore full access to the country and Kabul (seen above) (REUTERS/Ali Khara.)
In a statement, the United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) urged the Taliban to immediately restore access and warned that the blackout “has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people.”
Reuters also quoted UN officials as saying the blackout has crippled humanitarian operations.
Arafat Jamal, the UN refugee agency’s country representative, told reporters how it could no longer reach frontline aid workers, including those responding to a deadly earthquake in the east.
“It is another crisis on top of the existing crisis,” he said via satellite link from Kabul.
The Taliban administration could not be reached by Fox News Digital for comment.
