KABUL:&nbsp;Access to several social media sites, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, has been &quot;intentionally restricted&quot; in Afghanistan, an internet watchdog said Wednesday, a week after a 48-hour telecommunications blackout in the country. Social media sites have been intermittently accessible on smartphones in provinces across the country since Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, while internet speed is significantly slower than normal. &quot;The restrictions are now confirmed on multiple providers, the pattern shows an intentional restriction,&quot; said NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance. The disruption is &quot;primarily impacting mobile with some fix-lines also affected&quot;. The Taliban government has not responded to requests for comment from AFP. Confusion gripped Afghanistan last Monday when mobile phone service and the internet went down without warning, freezing businesses and cutting people off from the rest of the world. The massive blackout came weeks after the government began cutting high-speed internet connections to some provinces to prevent &quot;immorality&quot;, on the orders of shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. At the time, Netblocks said the blackout &quot;appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service&quot;, adding that connection slowed to around one percent of ordinary levels. It is the first time since the Taliban government won their insurgency in 2021 and imposed a strict version of Islamic law that communications have been cut in the country. The government has yet to comment on the blackout. For Afghan girls and women in particular, the internet is a lifeline in a country where they are banned from secondary schools, universities, gyms, parks and most work. &quot;I would feel really sad if they banned Instagram or other social media because it&#39;s the only way I can connect with the world,&quot; said 24-year-old Ghezal, who asked for only her first name to be used. &quot;These social media platforms are the main way I stay connected with my friends who live in other countries.&quot; At the beginning of 2025, 13.2 million people had access to the internet in Afghanistan -- around 30.5 percent of the population, according to the specialist website DataReportal. Around 4.05 million people were using social media.

A man at a street stand for money exchange checks his cellphone after some networks were restored following an outage that began Monday in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP)

Afghanistan

Access to Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat in Afghanistan has been intentionally restricted, following a telecom blackout, severely impacting mobile internet and social media users.

Afghan mobile access to Facebook, Instagram intentionally restricted: watchdog

<span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KABUL: An Afghan government defence official said Sunday that a deal over Bagram air base was &quot;not possible&quot;, after US President Donald Trump said he wanted the former US base back. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bagram, the largest air base in Afghanistan, located north of the capital Kabul, was the centre of US operations in their 20-year war against the Taliban. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trump threatened unspecified punishment against Afghanistan if it was not returned &mdash; four years after the US troops abandoned it. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;If Afghanistan doesn&#39;t give Bagram Airbase back to those that built it, the United States of America, BAD THINGS ARE GOING TO HAPPEN!!!&quot; the 79-year-old leader wrote on his Truth Social platform. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On Sunday, Fasihuddin Fitrat, chief of staff of Afghanistan&#39;s Ministry of Defence, said &quot;some people&quot; want to take back the base through a &quot;political deal&quot;. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;Recently, some people have said that they have entered negotiations with Afghanistan for taking back Bagram air base,&quot; he said in comments broadcast by local media. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;A deal over even an inch of Afghanistan&#39;s soil is not possible. We don&#39;t need it.&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Later, in an official statement, the Afghan government said that &quot;Afghanistan&#39;s independence and territorial integrity are of the utmost importance.&quot; <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trump has repeatedly criticized the loss of the base, noting its proximity to China. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Thursday, on a state visit to Britain, was the first time he publicly sought control of the air base. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The US and the NATO troops chaotically pulled out of Bagram in July 2021, under Joe Biden&#39;s presidency, but as part of a 2020 Trump-brokered deal with Taliban insurgents. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The loss of crucial air power saw the Afghan military collapse just weeks later, and the Taliban regained power. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Reporters asked Trump at the White House if he was considering sending US troops to retake Bagram. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">&quot;We won&#39;t talk about that, but we&#39;re talking now to Afghanistan, and we want it back and we want it back soon, right away. And if they don&#39;t do it, you&#39;re going to find out what I&#39;m going to do,&quot; he said. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A massive, sprawling facility, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others have repeatedly raised allegations of systematic human rights abuses by US forces at Bagram, especially on detainees in Washington&#39;s murky &quot;War on Terror&quot;. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The original airfield was built with assistance from what was then the Soviet Union in the early 1950s, expanded with US help during the Cold War, and significantly developed further by Moscow during the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the height of US control around 2010, it had grown to the size of a small town, with supermarkets and shops including outlets such as Dairy Queen and Burger King. <span style="font-size: 18px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It was visited by several US presidents, including Barack Obama in 2012 and Trump in 2019.

Asia

Trump says he wants it back right away, and everyone will soon find out what it will do in case of refusal.

US deal on Bagram base 'not possible': Afghan Taliban  	

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Adam Boehler, the U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs, traveled to Kabul on Saturday for rare talks with Afghan officials about a potential prisoner swap, the Taliban and U.S. officials said.&nbsp;Following his meeting with Afghanistan&rsquo;s Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Afghan government said, &ldquo;Adam Boehler discussed the issue of detained citizens between Afghanistan and the United States, and both sides agreed to consider a prisoner exchange.&rdquo;&nbsp;U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, stopped short of confirming any deal. Speaking to reporters on his way to the Middle East, Rubio said, &ldquo;Our special envoy has been in discussions for some time. Ultimately, any exchange would be the president&rsquo;s decision, but we want to see the release of any Americans or others unlawfully detained. Mr. Boehler&rsquo;s visit was to explore what is possible.&rdquo;&nbsp;At least one American citizen, Mahmood Habibi, remains detained in Afghanistan. The U.S. is offering a $5 million reward for information on his whereabouts. The Taliban deny involvement in his disappearance in 2022.&nbsp;Earlier this year, Boehler secured the release of airline mechanic George Glezmann, who spent over two years in Afghan custody.&nbsp;On Saturday, Boehler, accompanied by former U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, also met with Afghanistan&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat tweeted, &ldquo;Both sides emphasized ongoing discussions on bilateral issues, especially regarding imprisoned citizens in both countries.&rdquo;&nbsp;Since the Taliban took control in August 2021, dozens of foreign nationals have been detained in Afghanistan. This week, Russia announced the release of a detained Russian ethnologist, held for nearly two months. The Russian Foreign Ministry said he was freed &ldquo;at the request of the Russian side, reflecting the friendly relations&rdquo; between the two nations.&nbsp;Russia remains the only country to officially recognize the Taliban government.&nbsp;In January, the Taliban released two Americans in exchange for Khan Mohammed, an Afghan fighter convicted of narco-terrorism in the U.S.&nbsp;Despite the long history of conflict, the Taliban continue to express a desire for improved relations with the U.S. and other countries.&nbsp;On Saturday, Foreign Minister Muttaqi said, &ldquo;We call for a return to normal relations. There are no insurmountable problems in our bilateral ties.&rdquo;&nbsp;Since 2021, countries including Pakistan, China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran have maintained their embassies in Kabul.

U.S. envoy visits Kabul to discuss potential prisoner swap amid ongoing diplomatic talks between Afghanistan and the United States.

Articles tagged with "Afghan Taliban"

Afghan mobile access to Facebook, Instagram intentionally restricted: watchdog

US deal on Bagram base 'not possible': Afghan Taliban

U.S. Envoy visits Kabul to discuss possible prisoner exchange