On Monday, almost all telecommunications traffic in the country was shut down with short notice, after the Taliban regime decided to take control of the network.
We are blind without phones and internet, says the 42-year-old shop owner Najibullah in Kabul.
Our entire business is dependent on mobile phones. Deliveries are made via mobile phones. It's like a holiday, everyone stays home. The market is completely still.
"Everything is affected"
The authorities' restriction of the network began in a few regions a couple of weeks ago. On Monday, a sharper disruption occurred, leaving only about one percent of the country's regular internet traffic remaining.
An official informed AFP about the shutdown just a few minutes before it happened. He said that "eight to nine thousand telecom towers" would be shut down indefinitely.
There are no other methods or systems for communication. The banking sector, customs, everything in the whole country will be affected, said the official, who spoke anonymously.
The Taliban movement's reclusive leader Hibatullah Akhundzada is said to have decided on the shutdown of the extensive fiber network, citing the reason that it should prevent moral decay.
Cannot reach relatives
A source within the UN's operations in Afghanistan tells AFP that their work is being severely affected and that employees are trying to communicate via radio and satellite phones.
Afghans abroad are having difficulty reaching close and dear ones.
"I do not know what is happening, I am very worried", writes a 40-year-old Afghan living in Oman to AFP as he tries to contact family members in Kabul.
