Internet Ban Imposed Across Five Afghan Provinces by Taliban

The Taliban has announced an expansive internet ban in five northern provinces, asserting “immoral activities” as the rationale for the action. The decision, made by provincial officials on Wednesday, indicated that the fiber optic connections were completely shut down in the provinces of Kunduz, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Takhar, and Balkh—meaning that homes, businesses, and government offices were cut off from access to high-speed internet in the region.

Censorship Framed as Morality

It is the first ban on internet access for the Taliban regime since they regained control of Afghanistan in 2021. Local officials confirmed that mobile internet services—via cellular data—will remain functional in the provinces, but all broadband internet and fiber optic connections will be turned off. The Taliban claimed that an alternative system would be put in place that would give the population access to “required services” without providing details as to what that would look like. The Taliban justified the ban stating it was necessary in order to “prevent immoral activities,” a reference to the regime’s previous concerns about pornography and online communications—between non-related men and women.

The ban adds to an ongoing series of Taliban crackdowns on personal liberties and digital freedoms. For almost two years, the regime has barred girls from access to secondary education, limited women from working in most sectors, and provided a series of boundaries to establish and promote morality, including mandating that men must grow beards, women must cover their faces, and music must not played in cars. Amnesty International published a detailed summary of these actions that outlines the systematic rollback of rights following the group’s re-capture of the Afghan state.

Global Reaction and Condemnation

2. Internet Ban Imposed Across Five Afghan Provinces by Taliban

Zalmay Khalilzad, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, reacted to the ban by calling it absurd. In comments shared over his X account, he noted that most Islamic countries wishing to block explicit or immoral content online do so using targeted filter systems and not through large-scale disconnection and banning of access. He wrote “If pornography is really the concern, like as in many Islamic countries, it would be filtered…” he wrote, “Many countries in the Islamic world do exactly that.”

The ban is already drawing condemnation from rights organizations and other observers on the basis that it restricts access to information and opportunities to engage in economic activity under the guise of moral protection. In many parts of northern Afghanistan, fiber optic internet is the backbone for the financial service industry, education through remote learning, and engagement and communication with international and domestic humanitarian and development NGOs. The disconnection will further isolate a rural region that is already disconnected—especially for women who have faced both social limitations as well as limitations to public space in which they can engage in.

Human Rights Watch and other advocacy groups have pointed to digital censorship as a key tactic under the Taliban regime to promote ideological control and suppression of dissent. With the full ban of high-speed internet across all five provinces, questions persist regarding how the regime will justify or expand this rule into the future, and if this ban will be implemented in other regions of the country.