A Taliban security personnel stands a guard as women who had suffered Afghan burqa are waiting in a queue in the middle of a storm to receive food supplies donated during the Islamic Saint Nicario of Ramadan in Kabul on March 25, 2025.
AFP via Getty Images
On September 15, 2025, the Taliban in fact Authorities announced the internet ban in large areas of northern Afghanistan. It is pronounced by the Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, the move is said to have been implemented to “prevent immoral activities”. The prohibition is limited to all internet connections via fiber optic cable, while internet access to mobile data should not be affected at this stage. The ban, which at this stage affects five provinces, Kunduz, Badakhan, Baghlan, Takhar and Balkh, is the first prohibition on the acquisition of the Taliban in August 2021. The prohibition will lead to homes, businesses and offices that will remain unnecessary. The ban will affect the rights of women and girls and human rights.
The rights of women and girls
The last four years have seen a liturgy of restrictions imposed on women and girls, including their ban on higher education. In August 2024, the Taliban introduced provisions on the codification of the law. The new law, “regarding the promotion of virtue and the prevention of the Vice -President”, extended the already serious and ubiquitous restrictions on the rights of Afghan women and girls. Article 13 imposed that a woman should knit her body at all times. A face coverage is said to be necessary. This is to avoid temptation and lure others. Women should be covered in front of non -Muslim males and females. A woman’s voice is considered familiar and therefore women should not be heard to sing, recite or read loudly to the public. Women are not allowed to see men who are not related to blood or marriage and vice versa.
Over the years, women and girls have been able to access some form of internet training, based on fiber optic networks. The prohibition of fiber optic internet will result in women and girls cut off from e -education, which has their only viable choice.
The internet ban will have a profound effect on human rights in Afghanistan.
Censorship
The internet has changed the way we have access to information, the way we connect to others, the way we see opportunities and the way we get it. As the internet has become a global tool for freedom of expression, an internet interruption usually represents an attempt at censorship. This also applies to Afghanistan. The ban on broadband internet in the five provinces is an unprecedented escalation of censorship. It will undermine the work of journalists and media and therefore access to information.
Internet internet stoppage adds to this increasing trend worldwide. In February 2025, Access Now, a Non -Governmental Organization that defends and expands the digital rights of people and communities at risk, have been published report Documentation 296 Shutdowns in 54 countries. These new data exceeds the previous 2023 record of 283 finishes in 39 countries, increasing 35%. About 47 active finishes continued in 2025. Many states use the internet as a method to control entire communities. Indeed, many states have used their power to close the internet to limit disagreement and human rights.
Affect businesses
The ban will further affect businesses and contribute to the country’s financial situation in the country. The fiber optic internet has been used mainly by businesses, banks and government services. Following the introduction of the ban, Netblocks, an Internet screen, said that the use of the internet in the affected provinces had been dramatically reduced. While the mobile internet has not been affected, the prepaid cards are very expensive and the mobile internet is comparatively slow. Therefore, they do not provide a viable solution.
Internet holidays, such as those observed in Afghanistan, violate human rights, put people at risk and harm the economy. They limit freedom of expression, reduce access to information and can prevent people from assembled and connecting peacefully, online and out -of -service. In Afghanistan, such holidays are also another way to suppress women and girls’ rights, to further isolate them and prevent their participation in society.
