Islamabad, 1 October 2025 (dpa/MIA) - A nationwide internet and telecommunications blackout in Afghanistan entered its third day on Wednesday, leaving the country almost entirely cut off from the outside world.

Since Monday evening, without prior notice, not only internet services but the entire telecom system has been shut down.

Netblocks, an organization known for monitoring internet shutdowns, posted on X on Tuesday that the move is "cutting off residents from the rest of the world; the ongoing measure marks the Taliban's return to conservative values it espoused a quarter of a century ago limiting basic freedoms."

According to prominent Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews, the disruption has affected multiple sectors, including banking services and air travel, with all incoming and outgoing flights suspended. However, a Afghan airline official told the broadcaster that the airline might resume some of its pre-scheduled flights by Wednesday afternoon.

Afghans living abroad have been unable to contact their families inside the country since the blackout began. Dpa has also been unable to reach authorities or residents by phone or internet for three days.

On Tuesday, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban government to urgently restore internet and telecom services.

“Such a ban has immediate and far-reaching consequences, including severely impacting the functioning of critical banking and financial systems, further increasing the isolation of women and girls, limiting access to emergency services and medical care, disrupting the aviation sector, and limiting access to remittances for dependent families,” UNAMA said in a statement.

“The Taliban’s moves to cut internet access harms the livelihoods of millions of Afghans and deprives them of their basic rights to education, health care, and access to information,” Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement published on Wednesday.

“The Taliban should drop its baseless rationales and end these shutdowns.”

In mid-September, the fiber optic internet was cut in Balkh province and later in others, reportedly on orders from Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada over “immorality” concerns.

Although service was later restored, a Taliban official told the New Delhi office of German public broadcaster ARD that misuse of the internet doesn’t justify a full shutdown and called for "reforms" instead. The main Taliban spokesperson has not yet commented on the current blackout.