A massive Internet blackout struck Afghanistan on September 29, evidently imposed by the Taliban regime to “prevent immoral activities,” as a spokesman for the Islamist junta put it.

Radio Free Europe (RFE) noted that Taliban officials were spotted “severing fiber-optic cables in multiple provinces” a few weeks ago, causing local Internet outages.

On Friday, a regime spokesman in the northern province of Balkh said the cables in his region were cut on the orders of Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. Three days later, the Internet went dark in most of Afghanistan and mobile phone service was sharply degraded.

“Recent studies in Afghanistan found that internet applications have badly affected the ongoing, economic, cultural and religious foundations of society,” the Tali

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