Multiple flights into and out of Kabul International Airport were cancelled Tuesday amid a country-wide Internet outage. File Photo by Stringer/EPA-EFE
Sept. 30 (UPI) — Air travel was disrupted Tuesday in Afghanistan after the Taliban government shut down the Internet across the country.
The Internet blackout began Monday, according to NetBlocks, a watchdog group that monitors Internet status across the globe.
“Afghanistan is now in the midst of a total Internet blackout, as Taliban authorities move to implement morality measures, with multiple networks disconnected through the morning in a stepwise manner; telephone services are currently also impacted,” the group said Monday.
The lack of Internet has resulted in a nearly complete shutdown of services across Afghanistan, including transportation, healthcare and banking, the BBC reported. Women and girls also have lost one of their last remaining links to education after Taliban leaders cut their schooling after Grade 6.
Flightradar24, a flight-tracking website, showed that multiple flights into and out of Afghanistan had been listed as canceled or marked as “unknown.”
The Washington Post reported it had been unable to reach more than a dozen contacts in Afghanistan, including Taliban and women’s rights representatives.
An unnamed diplomatic official in Kabul told the newspaper the Internet had been cut unexpectedly at 5 p.m. local time on Monday.
Taliban officials have in the past shown interest in installing Internet filters to prevent people from accessing what they consider to be immoral content. The ability to do so, however, is expensive.