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When the Taliban announced a nationwide internet shutdown this week, Afghans across the country watched their final connection to the outside world vanish. For many, especially women and girls already excluded from schools and universities, the blackout marked the collapse of their last hope for an education.

Fahima Noori (name changed for safety) told the BBC she once envisioned a future as a lawyer or midwife. She had studied both law and midwifery and even worked in a mental health clinic before the Taliban regained control in 2021.

Since then, her opportunities have narrowed with each new restriction. Girls were banned from classrooms after age 12, women were pushed out of most jobs, and recently, even books written by female authors were stripped from universities.

“I recently enrolled in an online university [and] I had hoped to finish my studies and find an online job. Our last hope was online learning. Now [even] that dream has been destroyed.”

For weeks, internet users in Afghanistan braced for the worst. Fibre-optic lines had already been severed in several provinces, officially to “prevent immorality.” By Tuesday, watchdog group Netblocks confirmed what many feared: a “total internet blackout.”

Flights from Kabul were disrupted, satellite TV signals faltered, and international news outlets reported losing contact with their offices inside the country. Local businesses and daily life came to a standstill.

“The cut in access has left Afghanistan almost completely cut off from the outside world, and risks inflicting significant harm on the Afghan people, including by threatening economic stability and exacerbating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises,” the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement.

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“Such a ban has immediate and far-reaching consequences, including severely impacting the functioning of critical banking and financial systems, further increasing the isolation of women and girls, limiting access to emergency services and medical care, disrupting the aviation sector, and limiting access to remittances for dependent families. The current blackout also constitutes a further restriction on access to information and freedom of expression in Afghanistan.”

Anas, a money changer in Takhar province, said his work has been slashed by 90%. “Yesterday, my brother, who is also my business partner, tried to send an email to a client. He couldn’t get it through,” he said.

“The night before, we heard the Taliban had cut internet access in Mazar, and my eldest daughter came to me with tears in her eyes and said she feared the same would happen here. Their last opportunity to study is now gone.”

Before the shutdown, the BBC spoke with students whose lives had already been reshaped by earlier restrictions. Shakiba, from northern Takhar, had once pursued midwifery. When that program was banned, she turned to online classes.

“We want to study. We want to be educated. We want to be able to help people in our future. When I heard that the internet had been cut, the world felt dark to me.”

For Fahima and her sisters in eastern Afghanistan, the feeling is much the same.

“My two sisters [and I] were studying online. We used to stay updated on news and technology through the internet, but now we cannot keep up or learn new skills. We dreamed of finishing our education and helping our father financially, but now… we all sit at home doing nothing.”

It’s not only students who have lost their lifeline. Zabi, an English instructor, says dozens of his pupils were in the middle of IELTS exams when the internet collapsed. IELTS is a standardized English test. There are no IELTS centers, he explained. Zabi, who once worked as a journalist in Pakistan, had shifted to online teaching when physical institutes were restricted.

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“I had men and women in my classes, up to 70 or 80 students at a time. My students were happy, and our lessons went smoothly. They were all preparing for the IELTS, and all their learning depended on the internet. The research, the practice tests, the official exams, everything. Two days ago, about 45 of my students were in the middle of an exam when the internet was cut off. They had been preparing for it for months, but they missed the opportunity. It was heartbreaking for them and for me as their teacher.”

Now his students are calling him, asking how to handle the situation.

“They keep calling me asking, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ For the boys, there are still some English centers open, but for my female students, this was their last chance. And now even that is gone.”

Even before the blackout, many Afghans struggled to afford mobile data, their only alternative when fibre lines were cut. A 100GB plan costs roughly $50 a month—untenable in a country where the average annual income was just over $300 in 2024, according to the UNDP.

Shared Wi-Fi had been far cheaper, but now even that option is no longer available. Zabi says he may be forced to leave the country. If the internet is not restored, he has no way to make a living.

The internet shutdown follows a steady tightening of rules since the Taliban’s return to power. Earlier this month, authorities banned subjects like human rights and sexual harassment from universities. Roughly 140 books by female authors, including science texts such as “Safety in the Chemical Laboratory,” were pulled from curricula as “anti-Sharia and Taliban policies.”

Officials continue to insist that women’s rights are respected within the Taliban’s interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law. But for students, parents, and teachers alike, the reality feels far different.

As Anas put it, “Their last opportunity to study is now gone. Seeing my children so helpless… [that was] the hardest for me. Only God knows what will happen to them and to me.”

Moumita Basuroychowdhury

Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.