\u201cIt\u2019s like Eid al-Adha,\u201d says a Kabul resident as internet returns
\n kabul
\nMobile networks and the internet were restored across Afghanistan on Wednesday, 48 hours after the Taliban authorities shut down telecommunications.
\nConfusion gripped the South Asian country on Monday night when mobile phone service and the internet went down without warning, freezing businesses and cutting Afghans off from the rest of the world.
\nThe massive blackout came weeks after the government began cutting high-speed internet connections to some provinces to prevent \u201cimmorality\u201d, on the orders of supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
\nAFP journalists reported on Wednesday that mobile phone signals and wifi had returned to provinces across the country, including Kandahar in the south, Khost in the east, central Ghazni, and Herat in the west.
\nThe Taliban government has yet to comment on the telecommunications shutdown.
\nOn Wednesday night, hundreds of Afghans poured onto the streets in the capital Kabul, spreading the word that the internet was back.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s like Eid al-Adha; it\u2019s like preparing to go for prayer,\u201d said 26-year-old Sohrab Ahmadi, a delivery driver.
\n\u201cWe are very happy from the bottom of our hearts.\u201d After days of tension, Afghans celebrated by buying sweets and balloons, as drivers honked their horns, phones pressed to their ears.
\n\u201cThe city is alive again,\u201d Mohammad Tawab Farooqi, a restaurant manager in the city told AFP.
\nBusinesses, airports, banks closed
\nNetblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance, said the blackout \u201cappears consistent with the intentional disconnection of service\u201d.
\nIt said connectivity had slowed to 1% of ordinary levels.
\nA government official warned AFP minutes before the shutdown on Monday evening that the fibre optic network would be cut, affecting mobile phone services, \u201cuntil further notice\u201d.
\nThere were widespread closures of businesses, airports, and markets, while banks and post offices were unable to operate.
\nAfghans were unable to contact each other in or out of the country, and many families stopped their children from going to school during the uncertainty.
\nThose living in Herat and Kandahar travelled to border towns to catch signals from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan.
\nThe United Nations said on Tuesday the shutdown \u201cleft Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world\u201d, and called on authorities to restore access.
\nInternet connections have been extremely slow or intermittent over the past weeks.
\nOn September 16, when the first internet services were first cut in northern provinces, Balkh provincial spokesman Attaullah Zaid said the ban had been ordered by the Taliban\u2019s leader.
\n\u201cThis measure was taken to prevent vice, and alternative options will be put in place across the country to meet connectivity needs,\u201d he wrote on social media.
\n\u201cRecent studies in Afghanistan found that internet applications have badly affected the ongoing, economic, cultural and religious foundations of society,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cIt\u2019s like Eid al-Adha,\u201d says a Kabul resident as internet returns kabul Mobile networks and the internet were restored across Afghanistan on Wednesday, 48 hours after the Taliban authorities shut down telecommunications. Confusion gripped the South Asian country on Monday night when mobile phone service and the internet went down without warning, freezing businesses and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-506202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n