Afghan telecommunications blackout reflects growing pattern of internet shutdowns worldwide

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

October 6, 2025

HRRC expresses concern over the increase of internet blackouts worldwide, including most recently in Afghanistan. We urge the international community and state actors to recognize access to information as a human right, and to find new avenues to provide internet access to those impacted by blackouts worldwide. 

Afghan men use their mobile phones in Kabul on October 1, 2025. Mobile networks and the internet were restored across Afghanistan on October 1, 48 hours after the Taliban authorities shut down telecommunications. [Image credit: AFP]

A 72-hour, country-wide telecommunications blackout in Afghanistan earlier this week left over 43 million people without access to most phone or internet service. This is the latest example of internet blackouts being used by governments to control and suppress the spread of information. 

The blackouts, which began on the night of Monday, September 29 and lasted until Wednesday, October 1, were made under the direction of the Taliban, which has ruled the country since it ousted the country’s Western-backed government in 2021. The blackout grounded flights, disrupted businesses, and halted essential services like banking and payments. 

The Taliban did not give a reason for the blackout, but a previous internet blackout this September  was carried out for the reasons of “preventing vice.” The Taliban’s hardline interpretation of Islamic law has, among other restrictions, prevented women from attending school beyond a primary school level. The recent internet shutdowns have been noted to have a particular impact on women and girls circumventing this education ban by studying online. 

Internet blackouts are an increasingly common tool used by governments to suppress the spread of information, especially in times of crises, elections, protests, or conflict. For example, India routinely leads the world in internet blackouts, according to digital rights advocacy group Access Now, while last year countries including Azerbaijan, Mauritania, Mozambique, Pakistan, and Venezuela shut down their internet during national elections. Other countries routinely shut down the internet during national school exams, such as Iraq and Kenya.

More recently, during the Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this year, Iran issued a sudden and near complete internet blackout. Among other consequences, the shutdown limited Iranians’ access to news during the strikes, hampering their ability to access important safety and evacuation information. 

Internet shutdowns are particularly useful for governments to halt the flow of information due to the growth in use of virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to circumvent blocked sites in their country or region by masking their IP signature as originating in another country. In 2022, for instance, VPNs saw explosive growth in Russia as Russians attempted to access non-government approved information about the invasion of Ukraine. But total country-wide blackouts can make VPNs ineffective, as they still rely on existing telecommunications infrastructure to function. 

The advent of satellite-based internet connection, most notably Elon Musk’s Starlink, presents a new opportunity for citizens to access the internet even during shutdowns. Starlink has been criticized, however, for its dependence on the goodwill of its private owners to decide on who gets access, and when.

In recent years, a growing number of advocacy groups and think tanks have argued that access to information via the internet is a human right, and that removing access, even temporarily, violates that right.

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Glossary 

• Advent - the introduction of.

• Blackout – complete shutdown of the internet, airwaves, or other modes of communication. 

• Circumvent – get around. 

• Essential – needed for daily life. 

• Goodwill – intent to perform an action for a social or moral good. 

• Hampered – impede.

• Hardline – an uncompromising and often severe interpretation of a political, religious, or social belief.

• IP signature – identity codes built into the hardware of a computer or phone that can be used to identify where the device is located. 

• Telecommunications – electronic communications, including phones and internet communication

• Think tank – an organization designed to produce research and analysis. 

• Vice – actions considered morally wrong or objectionable in a society.