Afghanistan reels from 48-hour telecom blackout

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After the closure of the banks, Afghanistan was disgraced for two days, flights were stopped, and hospitals suddenly struggled to hospitals after suspending internet and phone services.

Authorities have for weeks banned access to broadband in several provinces to stop the “deputy” at the behest of the Taliban leader.

But no one in Kabul was ready for a nationwide shutdown.

The young Kabulis first traveled to high places in the hill capital, the phone raised to the sky in hope of catching the signal. Then they tried to buy a SIM card from different operators before defeating.

It was impossible for 48 million people in Afghanistan, sending news to their relatives or making valuable remittances from abroad.

Some residents of Herat and Kandahar traveled to the border cities to get a signal from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.

But in the rest of the country, there is no news in the outside world, rumors completed the rhythm of helicopters.

“The American Bagram Airbus is going to be taken again!” After the recent calls of US President Donald Trump, the US construction returned, whispered on the streets.

Others were surprised that the controversial Supreme Leader Halbatullah Akhandzada and loyalists replaced Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who supported a practical approach to running the country.

Until Thursday, Taliban authorities have not yet commented on the closure.

‘Return to the candle light?’

All over the country, one of the poorest people in the world, the banking system stopped working, and the informal money exchange system used in most parts of the country was also broken.

A private bank manager told AFP, “Cash withdrawal, card payment, fund transfer – everything relies on the Internet. We can’t do anything without it.”

For the Afghans, they had no choice but to survive any cash they had.

In half of the streets from half -placed, Taliban security personnel spoke through walking tacals.

He said on condition of anonymity, “I have worked in security for 14 years and I have never seen anything like that.”

“What after that? Will we cut the power and go back to the candle light?” Added another government employee, talking on condition of anonymity.

Domestic and international flights were also grounded, but there was no way to warn in any way, passengers keep coming to the airports.

The hospital’s emergency rooms lacked both staff and patients – because many Afghans were afraid to travel.

Afghanistan’s only neurologist Dr. Sultan Emad Etif saw a 30 % reduction in visits.

He told AFP, “Without online appointments, patients have to show indifference and hope that I can take them, or wait, sometimes nothing.”

Drama of Wedding Day

Overnight, two million Afghan women were deprived of online courses, according to the Malala Fund, there is a lifeline in a country where the Taliban government has banned education for girls beyond primary school.

A 20 -year -old student told AFP on Wednesday, “I was very scared that they would walk and I would not get my bachelor’s degree … I have left to study from afar.”

His parents refused to send his younger brother to school without any mobile phone.

Without delivery services, restaurants, post office, travel agencies and shops told AFP that they had suffered huge economic losses.

A wedding hall in the capital Kabul told AFP that weddings – often in a lifetime savings and incorporating 2,000 guests – became an “unorganized situation”.

“We plan well for weddings, but we may not be confirmed that the bride and the bride and their guests will be shown,” she told AFP a few hours before the blackout on Wednesday night and the wedding proceeded.

Khanzada Afghan, a manager of the Grocery Store in eastern Jalalabad, expressed regret, saying, “Ten years will not be enough to compensate for the economic losses of the last two days.

“I urge my leaders to tell us the reason for this closure – don’t leave us in the dark. The enemy can benefit from this situation.”