Cutting the Internet in Afghanistan is gender-based violence |
The Taliban’s September Internet blackouts were not a technical disruption but a deliberate act of control. By cutting digital access, Afghan women were stripped of education, income, connection and voice – extending gender apartheid into the online realm.
In September, Afghanistan went dark. Not from a technical fault, but from deliberate Internet blackouts imposed by the Taliban.
Under the pretext of preventing “immoral activities”, Talib authorities severed fibre-optic lines, dismantled thousands of telecommunications pillars and shut down the country’s remaining digital lifelines.
This was no administrative hiccup, but a calculated extension of the Taliban’s violence, engineered to instill fear and tighten control, particularly over women.
The blackouts spread gradually throughout the month, beginning in the north and reaching Kabul by 5pm on 29 September. By the next day, global monitoring groups confirmed that national access had collapsed, leaving more than 43 million people cut off from communication, income, education and aid. While this blackout was absolutely devastating for all Afghans who rely on the Internet, for Afghan women, already deprived of most freedoms, the blackout was particularly catastrophic.
Simultaneously, since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, women and girls have been banned from secondary school, university and most........