Analysts from the international organization NetBlocks reported that after two days of a complete shutdown, internet connections in Afghanistan have begun to be restored. Meanwhile, the country’s authorities stated that the outages were caused by aging fiber-optic cables that required replacement.
As a reminder, on September 29, 2025, Afghanistan imposed a complete internet shutdown. Experts at NetBlocks and Cloudflare reported that network providers in the country were disconnected in stages, and telephone service has also been experiencing disruptions.
The first blocks were introduced by representatives of the Taliban (designated as a terrorist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) a few weeks ago. In mid-September, the authorities shut down fiber-optic internet in the northern and eastern provinces, including Balkh, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Nangarhar, and Takhar. At the time, the country’s authorities said they were doing so to combat immorality.
As NetBlocks experts now report, the partial restoration of internet access in Afghanistan came “amid protests sparked by a two-day nationwide communications outage.”
The Afghan news television channel TOLOnews also reports on the restoration of communications, stating that “all the country’s telecommunications networks have resumed operation.”
At the same time, according to Al Jazeera, Taliban representatives deny that a nationwide ban on internet access has been imposed. Officials reportedly told Pakistani journalists in a chat that the outages were caused by old fiber-optic cables that needed to be replaced.