KABUL: Mobile networks returned to several provinces across Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, on Wednesday, 48 hours after the Taliban authorities shut down telecommunications. AFP journalists reported that signals were also available from several mobile operators in Kandahar, Khost, Ghazni, and Herat provinces. Confusion gripped the country on Monday night when mobile phone service and the internet went down without warning. Most businesses ground to a halt, including banks, post offices and markets, while hospitals had to operate without access to patient records. The massive shutdown comes weeks after the government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces to prevent &quot;immorality&quot;, on the orders of the Taliban&#39;s shadowy supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.

Afghanistan

Mobile networks were restored in Kabul and other Afghan provinces after a 48-hour Taliban shutdown that disrupted banks, hospitals, and businesses, following earlier internet restrictions.

Mobile and data networks return across Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on Tuesday to restore internet and telecommunications access across the country, saying the blackout imposed by the government in Kabul has left the nation almost entirely cut off from the outside world. The outage, reported the previous day, was the first nationwide shutdown since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 and was part of their professed crackdown on immorality. Earlier this month, several provinces lost their fiber-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality. The disruption threatened economic stability and deepened one of the world&rsquo;s worst humanitarian crises, said the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. It warned that the blackout is crippling banking and financial systems, isolating women and girls, limiting access to medical care and remittances, and disrupting aviation. The U.N. said such restrictions further undermine freedom of expression and the right to information. It noted that telecommunications are also crucial during disasters &mdash; Afghanistan has recently suffered major earthquakes in the east and is struggling with mass forced returns from neighboring countries. The U.N. mission said the internet outage spread since it was first imposed by the Taliban on Sept. 16 and became nationwide on Sept. 29. The mission said it would continue to press Afghanistan&rsquo;s de facto authorities to restore access &ldquo;in support of the Afghan people.&rdquo;

Asia

Central Asia

The UN mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban to restore nationwide internet and telecom access, warning the blackout threatens banking, healthcare, remittances, aviation, and freedom of expression, deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis after recent earthquakes and mass deportations.

The UN appeals Taliban to restore internet access across Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD : A huge communications blackout hit Afghanistan on Monday, weeks after Taliban authorities began severing fibre optic connections in multiple provinces to prevent &quot;vice&quot;. AFP lost mobile phone contact with its bureau in the capital Kabul around 5:45 pm (1315 GMT), as well as with journalists in the cities of Herat and Kandahar. &quot;A nation-wide telecoms blackout is now in effect,&quot; said Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance. &quot;We&#39;re now observing national connectivity at 14 percent of ordinary levels.&quot; The watchdog said the incident &quot;appears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service&quot;. Afghanistan&#39;s Taliban authorities began the crackdown on internet access earlier this month, effectively shutting down high-speed internet in several regions. Over the past several weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent. Telephone services are often routed over the internet, sharing the same fibre lines, especially in countries with limited telecoms infrastructure. &quot;Physically pulling the plug on fibre internet would therefore also shut down mobile and fixed-line telephone services,&quot; Netblocks told AFP. &quot;It may turn out that disconnecting internet access while keeping phone service available will take some trial and error.&quot; On September 16, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said fibre optic internet was completely banned in northern province on the leader&#39;s orders. &quot;This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,&quot; he wrote on social media. At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south. In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network -- largely built by former US-backed governments -- as a &quot;priority&quot; to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty. Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban have instituted numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.

A huge communications blackout hit Afghanistan , weeks after Taliban authorities began severing fibre optic connections in multiple provinces 

Nationwide communications blackout hits Afghanistan: AFP journalists

DUBAI: A ship probably cut cables in the Red Sea that disrupted internet access across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, experts said Tuesday. This shows the lines&#39; vulnerability over a year after another incident severed them. The International Cable Protection Committee told The Associated Press that 15 submarine cables pass through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the southern entrance of the Red Sea that separates East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula. Over the weekend, authorities in multiple countries identified the affected cables as the South East Asia&ndash;Middle East&ndash;Western Europe 4, the India-Middle East-Western Europe, and the FALCON GCX cables. On Tuesday, the list grew to include the Europe India Gateway cable, said Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik. Damage due to dragged anchorsInitial reports suggested the cut happened off the coast of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but authorities in the kingdom have not confirmed this, nor have the companies managing the cables. &ldquo;Early independent analysis indicates that the probable cause of damage is commercial shipping activity in the region,&rdquo; John Wrottesley, the committee&#39;s operations manager, told the AP. &ldquo;Damage to submarine cables from dragged anchors accounts for approximately 30% of incidents each year, resulting in around 60 faults.&rdquo; Madory also told the AP that the working theory is&nbsp;that a commercial vessel dropped its anchor and dragged it across the four cables, severing the connections. Cables in the Red Sea can be at shallow depths, making them more vulnerable to anchor dragging. Rerouting causes delaysUndersea cables are a core part of the internet infrastructure, along with satellite connections and land-based cables. Usually, internet service providers have multiple access points and can reroute traffic if one fails. However, rerouting can cause latency, or delays, for internet users. Madory said at least 10 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East have been affected by the cable cut, including India, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates. Like broken plumbing&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s completely offline, but each provider has lost a subset of their international transit,&rdquo; Madory explained. &quot;So, if you imagine this is like plumbing and you lose some volume of water coming down the pipes ... and now you just have less volume to carry the traffic.&rdquo; Cable security remains a concern, especially amid attacks by Yemen&#39;s Houthi rebels on ships related to the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza. In early 2024, Yemen&rsquo;s internationally recognized government in exile claimed the Houthis planned to attack undersea cables. Several cables were later cut, possibly by a ship attacked by the Houthis, dragging its anchor, but the rebels denied responsibility.

internet disruption, internet down in Pakistan

Middle East

Cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet across Pakistan, Africa, and the Middle East; experts cite shipping

Articles tagged with "internet disruption"

Mobile and data networks return across Afghanistan

The UN appeals Taliban to restore internet access across Afghanistan

Nationwide communications blackout hits Afghanistan: AFP journalists

Commercial shipping cut Red Sea cables, disrupting internet in Pakistan, Africa, Middle East