Mobile phones and internet services across Afghanistan were down today, residents and monitoring groups said, but the Taliban administration has not yet given an explanation for why, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The Taliban have in the past raised concerns about online pornography and in recent weeks authorities have cut fibre optic cables in some provinces, driven by what they say are moral concerns.
Internet quality in Afghanistan has dropped to around 1%, international monitoring group NetBlocks said. Access was cut off in stages yesterday, with the latest stage affecting telephone services that share infrastructure with the internet, the organisation said.
The private channel Tolo News, which warned its viewers of a possible service outage, said authorities had set a one-week deadline to shut down 3G and 4G mobile internet services, leaving only the older 2G standard active.
Internet traffic monitoring organisation Cloudflare Radar (Cloudfare Radar) said internet access had collapsed the most in the capital Kabul, followed by the cities of Herat and Kandahar.
Restrictions imposed by the Kandahar-based Taliban leadership have become increasingly strict in recent times, Reuters noted.
This month, authorities banned women working for the United Nations from entering the organization's offices. Previously, women were banned from many professions and girls from attending school.
The Taliban say they respect women's rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.