Afghanistan¡¯s higher education system faces what academics?have called an?¡°intellectual blockade¡± after the Taliban imposed a nationwide internet shutdown alongside sweeping new restrictions on university life.

On 30 September, fibre and Wi-Fi networks across the country were cut and mobile services throttled, reducing online access to near zero. While the nationwide blackout appeared to have only lasted 48 hours, scholars said the internet was already becoming increasingly hard to reach in many parts of the country, cutting?it off from the rest of the world.?

For many students ¨C especially women already excluded from university classrooms ¨C?losing access to the internet has switched off?their last lifeline to learning.

¡°This is more than an infrastructure failure; it is an intellectual blockade that risks severing the last hope for learning and communication,¡± said?Naimat?Zafary, a Chevening scholar from Afghanistan and PhD student at the University of Sussex.

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The move comes on top of almost?three years of bans preventing Afghan girls and women from progressing beyond secondary school.

¡°It is now more than 1,020 days since Afghan women were banned from higher education ¨C three full academic years lost. Not a single girl has graduated high school and advanced to university in that time,¡±?Zafary?said.

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He warned that such blackouts compromise an already devastated academic system.

¡°Academic freedom for the remaining male faculty has collapsed, replaced by ideological control over the curriculum. Teaching has been reduced to rote learning, frustrating critical thought. Student engagement is minimal, overshadowed by fear and by the profound absence of gifted female peers,¡± he said.

For women, the impact has been even more brutal. ¡°Careers and expertise have been erased, fuelling a catastrophic brain drain and stripping universities of their role as centres of knowledge,¡±?Zafary?said.

¡°If these policies continue, the damage will be irreversible. The higher education system will face national and intellectual paralysis. Institutions will become globally irrelevant, incapable of producing qualified graduates in essential fields such as medicine or engineering. This will guarantee long-term economic stagnation and deep social instability Afghanistan simply cannot afford.¡±

The blackout coincided with new rules announced by higher education minister Neda Mohammad Nadeem, who has ordered universities to ban smartphones, remove ¡°images of living beings¡± from classrooms and ensure staff wear turbans.

According to documents obtained by Afghan media outlet Amu, the 50 new regulations place campuses under the authority of the Taliban¡¯s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Ashley Jackson, co-director of the Centre on Armed Groups and a research associate at King¡¯s College London and the Geneva Graduate Institute, said the measures reflected ¡°a broader project of imposing ideological conformity and curbing independent thought¡±.

¡°These rules erode academic freedom, intimidate both students and faculty, and further isolate Afghanistan¡¯s higher education from global norms,¡± she told?ÌÇÐÄVlog.

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¡°Afghanistan risks a lost generation of professionals, especially among women.¡±

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For Afghan academics abroad, the blackout severed fragile channels of support.

Abdul?Saboor?Matin, a PhD student at the University of Central Lancashire and former deputy dean of law at?Herat?University, said diaspora networks had provided online lectures and webinars for female students until last week but were no longer able to take place as access to the internet was restricted.?

Matin warned that the Taliban¡¯s long-term goal was to dismantle modern higher education altogether.

¡°They are deliberately trying to turn universities into madrasa systems, based on their ideology,¡± he said.

Zafary?stressed that Afghanistan¡¯s plight mirrors other authoritarian regimes that ¡°restrict information to consolidate power¡±.

The response, he argued, must be coordinated: ¡°International institutions should urgently scale up scholarships and tuition waivers for Afghan women, prioritising external degree programmes in stable countries, while also providing emergency support to displaced female scholars.¡±

Despite the repression, he said the determination of Afghan women remains unbroken.

¡°The spirit and resolve of Afghan women to claim their right to education remain immense. With coordinated, sustained and strategic support that values their struggle and provides resilient learning opportunities, history tells us they will ¨C ultimately ¨C prevail. The tragedy is the cost they are paying in the meantime.¡±

Jackson agreed that while online platforms had been a lifeline, the blackout highlighted their fragility.

¡°Discreet, flexible online offerings could again help Afghan women maintain skills and continuity ¨C but it seems the Taliban decision was actually specifically directed to prevent women from engaging online, among other forms of ¡®vice¡¯,¡± she said.

For Matin, the responsibility falls on colleagues abroad to amplify the voices of those silenced inside the country.

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¡°There is no academic freedom now because the consequences are severe,¡± he said. ¡°For us who managed to get out, it¡¯s our responsibility to raise their voice, to be their voices and advocate for them.¡±

tash.mosheim@timeshighereducation.com