For 48 hours, the Taliban appeared to turn back the clock in Afghanistan with a directive to cut off the internet and phone networks, disconnecting millions of people from the world outside.

Afghans lost the ability to contact anyone within or beyond their borders, sending waves of panic worldwide as families, colleagues and friends realized an entire nation had gone dark.

Banking services froze, businesses ground to a halt, flights to and from major airports were canceled, money markets failed, and companies and aid groups lost contact with clients and staff.

“The greatest despair was that people feared Afghanistan had once again been plunged into conflict,” reported Hewad Watander, a journalist in the capital Kabul, who uses a pen name to avoid Taliban retribution.

“People appeared as if their spirits had left their bodies. Any sense of hope seemed to have completely vanished.”

The unprecedented internet blackout came without public warning and was immediately attributed to an order from the Taliban, a repressive Islamist regime that has stifled personal freedoms, particularly those of women and girls, since taking power in 2021.

A Taliban flag flutters near telecom equipment overlooking the Hazrat-e-Ali Shrine in Mazar-i-Sharif on September 16, 2025, after the Taliban banned fibre-optic internet in Balkh province. Atif Aryan/AFP/Getty Images

Just two weeks earlier, Taliban leaders in the north said they had cut the internet to several provinces “to prevent immoral activities.” An “alternative system will be established within the country for essential needs,” said Haji Zaid, the governor of northern Balkh province.

He said the order came from the Taliban’s Supreme Leader Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, a powerful and reclusive figure who issues edicts from the southern city of Kandahar.

No reason was given for the nationwide shutdown that started just after 5 p.m. on Monday. Nor for the sudden reconnection on Wednesday, leaving rumors on social media to fill the void.

Afghans are starting to share the sinking grief they’ve felt