- As of September 29, 2025, Afghanistan has closed the Internet completely
- The authorities justified the order as a way of “preventing immorality”, but experts believe that it is about silencing dissent and restricting communications
- VPNs cannot omit these restrictions, with satellite Internet and foreign Sim cards such as the only viable options
Afghas currently live in digital darkness, since Taliban authorities cut citizens from the rest of the world in an attempt to “prevent immorality.”
Internet Watchdog Netblocks began to track a deterioration of Internet connectivity levels since the beginning of September. On September 25, experts registered a pattern of internet closures in the style of the curfew in some regions of the country. Everything collapsed on Monday (September 29) when the country fell into a total communication blackout, since both Internet services and the phone stopped working.
According to #Keepiton’s global campaign manager in Access Now, Felicia Anthonio, the Taliban movement occurs rather as an attempt to adjust their control over the flow of information, silence dissent and protect the abuse of human rights from public scrutiny.
“With so many restrictions already in force, this closure eliminates the last remaining lines of life that connect the people of Afghanistan with the outside world,” Anthonio told Techradar.
The Internet closure toll of Afghanistan
As the netblocks and cloudflare radar measurements show all web traffic and zero DNS after cutting nationwide. IP address ads, a system that provides internet services by linking server groups, also fell into two thirds within the first twenty minutes of the blackout.
Beyond these technicalities, in practical terms, this means that most citizens cannot connect.
Mix the internet closure with the ongoing telecommunications blackout, and will have the perfect recipe to prevent all aghans from communicating with anyone, both inside and outside the country.
“The little information that emerges from Afghanistan shows that the Internet blackout is having a deep impact on every aspect of people’s rights and lives,” Anthonio confirmed to Techradar.
Fear and panic are promoting concerns among interested citizens who cannot communicate with their loved ones. From education, health and employment to travel and electronic commerce, people also struggle to access essential services.
Internet access is anything but luxury.
“For millions in Afghanistan, it’s a lifeguard,” Anthonio told Techradar. “For women, girls, journalists and marginalized communities, already taken to the margins by Taliban policies, connectivity is often the only way to participate in society.”
Beyond the VPN
Every time governments enforce online restrictions, people resort to tools such as Virtual Private Network Applications (VPN) to falsify your IP address and grant access to blocked content.
This time, however, it is the entire internet that is in the dark. Therefore, VPNs cannot do the trick, leaving Afghans with very limited resources to maintain the flow of information in operation.
According to the general manager of Proton VPN, David Peterson, the last time a national internet blackout occurred was in mid -June in Iran, lasting three days.
During most Internet restriction events, Proton VPN users can still tunnel towards the outside world. But not when the Internet is totally disconnected. The last time we saw a national and deliberate internet blackout like this was Iran for 3 days in mid -June. https://t.co/qdt5pz3mqfSeptember 29, 2025
Anthonio explains that the satellite connectivity offered by Starlink and similar services is becoming a common alternative for people and communities that the Internet on the blackouts face.
There is only one problem: prices and availability are still a barrier to most people who experience sequelae of an Internet closure.
This has brought people to use foreign Sim cards or satellite phones in place. However, this method comes with a cost for Afghans, and it is not about money.
“The Taliban have shown the will to retaliate against those who challenge their orders,” explains Anthonio.
What is needed at this time, according to Anthonio, is that the international community intervenes in the support of the Rights Group required by the end of the violation of the rights of people in Afghanistan.
While Afghanistan’s situation is particularly serious, the Taliban are far from being the only government that interrupts the Internet to boost a political agenda.
When commenting on this point, Anthonio said: “Unfortunately, this movement follows a family pattern in the authoritarian play book, where the authorities are increasingly normalizing the use of Internet closures to deny people their human rights.”
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