Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, on Thursday welcomed the return of internet services after a nearly two-day nationwide blackout, saying the shutdown had violated fundamental rights and should never have been imposed.
“Relieved to hear from people inside Afghanistan who are back online and reconnecting with one another and the world after almost 48 hours of darkness (longer for some),” Richard Bennett wrote on X. “Internet shutdowns disrupt lives, violate rights and cut off access to information. They should never be imposed.”
Afghanistan was cut off from the internet at 5 p.m. local time on Sept. 29 after the Taliban ordered a halt to both mobile and fiber-optic services. The outage, which lasted at least 48 hours, disrupted banking, grounded flights, and left families inside and outside the country unable to communicate.
Aid agencies and rights groups had warned that the blackout endangered humanitarian operations in a country already facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Human Rights Watch said the shutdown deprived Afghans of education, commerce and medical services, while Amnesty International called it a “reckless move” that worsened the plight of women and girls already barred from secondary and higher education.
Taliban initially offered no explanation for the shutdown.
