The Taliban cut off the internet and cut Afghanistan off from the world.

BarcelonaHis last WhatsApp It's Monday at 1:43 p.m. Three-quarters of an hour later, I answered her, but my message hadn't reached her. However, I wasn't surprised. I thought her mobile phone battery had probably run out and, given the constant power outages in Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan, she hadn't been able to recharge it. However, this Tuesday morning my Afghan colleague still hadn't answered, and that already made me suspicious. I tried calling her, but there was no line.

Since Monday afternoon, internet service has been completely blocked in Afghanistan, and there are no telephone lines either. The country is completely cut off and isolated from the world, to the point that even the United Nations agencies working on the ground cannot contact their staff, and all flights from Kabul airport have been canceled.

"It's been 24 hours since Afghanistan imposed a nationwide internet blackout, cutting off its inhabitants from the rest of the world. The measure represents a return by the Taliban to the conservative values they championed a quarter of a century ago, which restrict basic freedoms," NetBlock warned Tuesday.

The Taliban have not acknowledged responsibility for this widespread blackout, but just two weeks ago they banned fiber optic internet access in several provinces of the country, including Balkh, Badakhshan, Takhar, Kandahar, Helmand, and Nangarhar. At the time, they cited "moral reasons." They claim that the internet is a source of destruction that goes against the Islam they profess.

The internet blackout further silences the population in a country where protests are prohibited and press censorship is widespread, and where fleeing is impossible because obtaining a visa is currently impossible. It also closes the only remaining opportunity for Afghan women to study after the Taliban expelled them from high schools and universities.

The communications blackout has also generated all sorts of theories. For example, that it's the Taliban's response to Donald Trump's threats, who warned on September 20 that "bad things will happen" in Afghanistan if the Taliban don't return Bagram Air Base, a military installation located about 60 kilometers north of Kabul, to the United States. Whatever the case, the digital blackout shows that the current Taliban are not like those of the previous regime. Their main allies are now China, Iran, and Russia, who are experts at disrupting communications.

The UN's humanitarian coordinator in Afghanistan, Indrika Ratwatte, declared this Tuesday that she will demand that the Taliban at least restore internet access at the United Nations. That is, if she manages to contact them. Further proof that, like it or not, the Taliban have the upper hand.