Internet access for households in Kandahar has been restricted, with service now reportedly available only to key public offices, banks, and money exchangers, multiple local sources and residents told Amu on Wednesday.
According to the sources, fiber-optic and Wi-Fi services for ordinary residents have been cut off, marking another step in the Taliban’s tightening control over digital communications in southern Afghanistan.
A source in neighboring Helmand province also confirmed that internet speeds there have sharply decreased over the past 24 hours, with frequent outages and disruptions reported since Tuesday night.
Earlier this week, residents in the northeastern province of Kunduz said Taliban had ordered a temporary shutdown of fiber-optic internet for several hours, before restoring access on Tuesday afternoon.
The latest restrictions come amid a broader pattern of internet blackouts imposed by the Taliban in recent months. In late September, Taliban cut internet and mobile networks nationwide for two consecutive days, disrupting communication, banking, and humanitarian operations across the country.
Taliban have not issued an official explanation for the repeated disruptions. However, digital rights advocates and journalists say such restrictions are part of a growing effort by the Taliban to monitor and limit information flows, particularly after social media platforms have been used to share footage of protests and human rights violations.
So far, the Taliban Ministry of Communications has not commented on the latest restrictions in Kandahar and Helmand.