Afghans in Europe cut off from families with internet and mobile services down

Afghans living in Europe said on Tuesday they were nervous with no news from their families after internet and mobile phone services were cut by the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to diplomatic and industry sources.

Residents and monitoring services reported no connectivity and disruption to flights and financial services. The Taliban administration offered no immediate explanation for the outage and could not be reached for comment.

Atif Solozi, originally from Laghman in eastern Afghanistan but visiting friends in Paris from Brussels, said that he had last spoken to his parents on Saturday but that since Monday connections had been cut.

"It was Monday, last Monday from five o'clock, the internet, everything was closed. No one has contact with their family. No one knows about their families, it's closed. What happened, we don't know anything."

Wali Ahmadzai, originally from Logar but now living in Paris, said that all his friends living in France had the same issue. 

"The families are too far. Having no news is tiring, it's really so hard for us," he said.

"For the moment I don't have any news from my family and it's the same for my friends here whom I know. It's the same," Wali added.

In the past, the Taliban have voiced concern about online pornography, and authorities cut fibre-optic links to some provinces in recent weeks, with officials citing morality concerns.

The internet blackout comes as Afghanistan is grappling with the aftermath of an earthquake that hit the east of the country, the return of millions of refugees expelled from neighbouring countries, and a drought in the north.

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