By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN aid agencies said on Tuesday said that lifesaving relief efforts to help remote Afghan communities devastated by deadly earthquake have been hit by the de facto Taliban authorities’ decision to cut internet access nationwide.
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan called on Taliban leaders to immediately and fully restore Internet and telecommunications services.
Top UN official in Afghanistan Indrika Ratwatte, via a patchy satellite video link from Kabul said “As of yesterday, 1700 hours, we were informed that the telecommunications and fibreoptic connectivity in Afghanistan is going to be suspended until further notice.”
“The rest of the country is completely cut off right now, by and large,” he explained.
He added that connectivity has been lost with aid teams in the “deep field” who are delivering assistance to survivors of last month’s quake in eastern Afghanistan.
“We don’t have connectivity with them,” he stressed, highlighting needs among families originally from hillside villages now live in crowded informal settlements on the valley floor in Kunar province.
Mr. Ratwatte met one woman who had lost 11 members of her family. “The trauma is quite immense,” he said.
Over 43 million people in Afghanistan are believed to be offline, after the Taliban began cutting communications cables several weeks ago, reportedly to tackle “vice” and immorality in the light of their strict interpretation of Sharia law.
UN humanitarians work has been also set back by the de facto authorities’ ban on women nationals on staff from entering its premises, earlier this month.
The internet shutdown has affected health programmes, banking services and financial services, to impacting the work of the UN and partner organizations, Mr. Ratwatte stressed.
“At a community level, I would imagine that for normal business transactions, for banking, for cash transfers, for remittances that come from abroad, which are critical for these communities, that’s been cut off,” he stated
The 6.0 magnitude quake hit eastern regions of Afghanistan remote communities are struggling to recover. The disaster killed 2,000 people and injured 3,600, damaged 8,500 homes.
Mr. Ratwatte warned “The winter is not anymore on the way, it’s upon us.”
He stressed the need to insulate shelters for displaced people and provide warm clothing amid plummeting temperatures.
The discussions are underway with the de facto authorities in Kabul to seek a waiver to provide “critical connectivity” with aid teams, but the situation has complicated an already “dire” situation in Afghanistan, he added.
“This is another crisis on top of the existing crisis…the impact is going to be on the lives of people,” Mr. Ratwatte stressed.
He highlighted how the development would also impact critical medical services, supply chains and vaccinations.
“Assistance that keeps the basic essential services and the functioning in the country is going to be impacted”, he said.
He noted that connectivity with the rest of the world had also been impacted.
“Flights have been cancelled, international flights are not coming in today,” he concluded.
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