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Fibre-optic Cable
An internet blackout hit Afghanistan on Monday, with local media reporting a potential nationwide cut of fibre-optic services as part of a Taliban crackdown on immorality. It's the first time Afghanistan has experienced a shutdown of this kind since the former insurgents seized power in August 2021. Earlier this month, several provinces lost fibre-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality. On Monday, internet-access advocacy group Netblocks said that live metrics showed connectivity in Afghanistan had collapsed to 14 per cent of ordinary levels, with a near-total nationwide telecoms disruption in effect. The incident is likely to severely limit the public's ability to contact the outside world, the group added. The Associated Press was unable to contact its Kabul bureau, as well as journalists in the provinces of Nangarhar and Helmand. There was no confirmation of the blackout from the Taliban government,
Israel's prime minister on Sunday floated the idea of building infrastructure projects such as a fiber optic cable linking countries in Asia and the Arabian Peninsula with Europe through Israel and Cyprus. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he's quite confident such an infrastructure corridor linking Asia to Europe through Israel and Cyprus is feasible. He said such projects could happen if Israel normalises relations with other countries in the region. The 2020 U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and the Bidensadministration is trying to establish official ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia. An example and the most obvious one is a fiber optic connection. That's the shortest route. It's the safest route. It's the most economic route, Netanyahu said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides. The Israeli leader's pitch is itself an extension of proposed energy links with Cyprus and Greece as