Taliban authorities on Monday imposed a nationwide shutdown of communications, weeks after they began severing fibre optic connections to prevent “vice”.

Connectivity was operating at less than one per cent of its normal levels, according to internet watchdog Netblocks, who called it a “comprehensive, or total blackout”.

In the minutes before it happened, a government official told AFP the shutdown would last “until further notice”.

“It is going to be cut, it will happen gradually tonight, there are eight to nine thousand telecommunications pillars it will shut down,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“There isn’t any other way or system to communicate… the banking sector, customs, everything across the country will be affected.”

AFP lost contact with its bureau in the capital Kabul around 5:45pm (6:15 pm PKT), including mobile phone service.

Afhanistan’s Taliban authorities began a crackdown on internet access earlier this month, severing connections in multiple provinces.

The move, ordered by Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, effectively shut down high-speed internet in several regions.

Fibre optic internet was completely banned in northern Balkh province on the leader’s orders, provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said on September 16.

“This measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,” he wrote on social media.

At the time, AFP correspondents reported the same restrictions in the northern provinces of Badakhshan and Takhar, as well as in Kandahar, Helmand, Nangarhar and Uruzgan in the south.

Over the past several weeks, internet connections have been extremely slow or intermitant.

In 2024, Kabul had touted the 9,350-kilometre fibre optic network — largely built by former US-backed governments — as a “priority” to bring the country closer to the rest of the world and lift it out of poverty.

Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban have instituted numerous restrictions in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.