\n<\/p>\n
Just before nightfall on Wednesday, the near-deserted streets of Afghanistan\u2019s capital suddenly filled with people \u2013 mobile phones everywhere had pinged back to life.<\/p>\n
With phones pressed to their ears or tightly gripped in their hands, Afghans poured on to the streets of Kabul to check if others were also online.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations, the internet is back!\u201d a shopkeeper shouted, as drivers honked in response. Children were handed balloons, parents bought sweets and friends gathered in restaurants \u2013 all while chatting animatedly on their phones.<\/p>\n
For 48 hours, Afghans had been offline, cut off from mobile and internet services, in a telecommunications shutdown imposed by authorities without warning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt like we had gone back centuries. We were thinking of sending letters just to get updates from our families,\u201d said Mohammad Rafi, 33, the owner of a mobile phone shop.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe streets were empty \u2013 it felt like a holiday even though it was a weekday. But now, even in evening, it\u2019s crowded again.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Men try to connect their smart TV to the internet.<\/span> Photograph: Sayed Hassib\/Reuters<\/p>\n Sohrab Ahmadi, a 26-year-old delivery driver, had sat idle for two days, unable to reach clients through the apps he works for.<\/p>\n Now, rows of bikes are lined up to collect orders from restaurants lit by neon signs or from juice vendors playing music. \u201cIt\u2019s like Eid al-Adha; it\u2019s like preparing to go for prayer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/span>Telecommunication towers are gradually restoring service after almost three days of closures.<\/span> Photograph: Samiullah Popal\/EPA<\/p>\n Also visible on the streets was an increase in the number of women, who have faced sweeping restrictions under the Taliban government, including a ban on education beyond primary school.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t tell you how relieved I am. I\u2019m breathing again,\u201d said one young woman who is studying online and asked not to be named. \u201cOnline classes are the only hope left for Afghan girls.\u201d<\/p>\n The UN said the shutdown in connectivity threatened economic stability and exacerbated one of the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crises.<\/p>\n The Taliban government is yet to comment on the blackout.<\/p>\n <\/span>An Afghan woman walks past a beauty salon in the capital. <\/span> Photograph: Ali Khara\/Reuters<\/p>\n The outage came weeks after the government said it would begin cutting high-speed internet in some provinces to prevent \u201cimmorality\u201d.<\/p>\n The provincial spokesperson for Balkh, Attaullah Zaid, said at the time the ban had been ordered by the Taliban\u2019s shadowy supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada.<\/p>\n The internet was still a relatively nascent technology during the Taliban\u2019s first rule between 1996 and 2001, when the country was too battered by war and impoverished to build infrastructure.<\/p>\n <\/span>A Kabul street vendor speaks on his phone after services resumed.<\/span> Photograph: Sayed Hassib\/Reuters<\/p>\n But in recent decades, the economy has become increasingly dependent on internet connectivity. Even in rural areas, many Afghans use mobile phones to conduct business.<\/p>\n \u201cThe world has progressed. This is not like 30 years ago,\u201d said Ghulam Rabbani, a mobile credit seller, whose store was packed on Wednesday night. \u201cWe were hopeful that internet would return. It was a loss for everyone \u2013 including the government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just before nightfall on Wednesday, the near-deserted streets of Afghanistan\u2019s capital suddenly filled with people \u2013 mobile phones everywhere had pinged back to life. With phones pressed to their ears or tightly gripped in their hands, Afghans poured on to the streets of Kabul to check if others were also online. \u201cCongratulations, the internet is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[12469,4206,7082,7640,3735,1145,1050,1538],"class_list":{"0":"post-25226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-afghanistan","9":"tag-afghans","10":"tag-centuries","11":"tag-express","12":"tag-felt","13":"tag-internet","14":"tag-relief","15":"tag-restored"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}