Never Post When The Taliban Turned the Internet Off in Afghanistan
Mar 12, 2026
Ali Latifi, Kabul-based freelance journalist and contributing producer, narrates his first-person account of Afghanistan's 48-hour internet blackout. He describes the sudden notice, the complete disconnection, and the scramble to keep communication alive. Stories cover disrupted banking and trade, journalists cut off from sources, social strain and a surprising burst of in-person conversation before the online rush when service returned.
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Two Modes Of State Internet Control
- Countries with centralized national internets (China, Russia, Iran) avoid brute shutdowns by filtering and surveilling internally, while those without consolidated infrastructures resort to cutting cables.
- The Taliban physically cut links because they lacked filtering infrastructure, illustrating different authoritarian control strategies.
Living Through Afghanistan's 48 Hour Internet Cut
- Ali Latifi experienced a complete national cut: at 5pm on Sept 29, 2025 his SIMs, Wi‑Fi, calls, and texts all dropped and tens of millions of Afghans were offline instantly.
- He spent the first hours patching wounds, buying an eSIM, and watching downloaded movies while the city filled with rumors about coups and foreign attacks.
Small Businesses Lost Event Revenue Overnight
- Small business owners saw immediate losses because delivery services, client communication, and event‑timed orders relied on the network and couldn't be coordinated offline.
- Suha lost hundreds to thousands of dollars when customers canceled event orders she couldn't confirm or deliver.